Dallas Stars Return from Christmas Break, Head to Arizona

The Dallas Stars are back from their three-day break and are headed for the desert. They take on the Arizona Coyotes tonight.

The Dallas Stars will begin the post-Christmas portion of their season tonight as they take on the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale. Puck drop is set for 8PM CT.

Records and Scores

The Stars are (14-14-7) and were happy to head into their three-day break at .500. They did so in an unlikely fashion as Dallas defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime last Friday. It marked just the second time this season the Stars came out on top in the three-on-three overtime period and was a step in the right direction, one which they will aim to build upon tonight.

Arizona (11-18-5) is not above .500 and will look to crawl their way closer to it tonight. They are on a four-game losing streak with their most recent loss coming at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1, Friday night. The Coyotes are looking for any signs of positivity to key in on as they host the Stars tonight.

Storylines

Keep the Momentum Going

The Stars were able to find some sort of consistency after they changed their system a bit toward the end of November. That tweak made it possible for them to have stretches of time in which they appeared to resemble the 2015-16 Dallas Stars club, a team that had significant more success under its belt at this time last year.

Nonetheless, Dallas’ recent strides toward saving their season have not gone unnoticed. The Stars are still in the mix of the Central Division, currently holding fifth place with 35 points. That puts them only 14 behind the leading Chicago Blackhawks, making them merely one solid winning streak’s distance out of serious contention.

Friday night’s overtime win was a big victory for the team, but its significance will be greatly diminished if Dallas fails to build upon it.

Goaltending Question

Dallas has to answer the question of which net minder they will protect for the 2017 expansion draft in the upcoming months. Now while that is a bit of ways away, it really depends upon how the two Finnish net minders play in the turning points of the season.

The end of the 2016 leg of the campaign is arguably one of those moments and it looks as if Antti Niemi is in the lead. That is not to say, however, that Kari Lehtonen will be hung out to dry.

Lehtonen did play rather well in the win over the Kings, but Niemi has had a streak of excellent play of late. Now whether that is enough to solidify him as Dallas’ No. 1 is certainly an invalid statement, but if No. 32 is given the starting role tonight he certainly has something worth playing for.

Whomever finds himself in the Stars’ crease for tonight’s match-up will have the pressure sitting on his shoulders and will hopefully end the night having earned Dallas two more points.

Injuries

Dallas will be without Mattias Janmark (knee) and Ales Hemsky (groin) tonight. Patrick Sharp (concussion) is close to return but seems unlikely for the game and Cody Eakin will be serving the forth game of his four-game suspension, making him unavailable for tonight’s match-up.

Antoine Roussel was placed on injured reserve yesterday and will not participate in tonight’s game. Stephen Johns did not play in Friday’s game and remains questionable.

Arizona will play with Dave Bolland (lower-body), Max Domi (upper-body) and Brad Richardson (broken tibia and fibula) in tonight’s match-up.

Predicted Line Combinations

Dallas Stars

Jamie Benn – Jason Spezza – Brett Ritchie

Lauri Korpikoski – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves

Curtis McKenzie – Radek Faksa – Adam Cracknell

Jason Dickinson – Devin Shore – Jiri Hudler

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg

Johnny Oduya – Jordie Benn

Dan Hamhuis – Patrik Nemeth/Jamie Oleksiak

Kari Lehtonen

Antti Niemi