Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: Which Players Will Join The 3,000-Hit Club?

Gameday Preview: Calgary Flames @ Dallas Stars


Next Game

Calgary Flames (7-4-1)
@ Dallas Stars (6-3-5)

Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009, 7:35 PM CST
American Airlines Center

Local TV: My 27
Radio: KTCK 1310 The Ticket

Opponent's Blog: Matchsticks and Gasoline

Complete Coverage >



It feels like forever since we've had a game. With such a busy schedule in October, it's odd to have nearly four days between games...and it seems a lot has changed in such a short amount of time.

The Stars enter November with a good start but there is certainly room for improvement in nearly every area of their game. They're still getting comfortable with Marc Crawford's system and the goaltending has been a bit inconsistent (but overall impressive on the whole), and now the Stars will seemingly be putting a bit of a different team on the ice tonight against the Flames.

Star-divide

The Dallas Stars:

With Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen returning to the ice, the Stars have shaken things up a bit. Lehtinen will be joining his old linemates of Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro, while Jamie Benn will slide down to join Modano and Steve Ott.

While Brad Richards and his line have been playing out of their minds through 14 games, the rest of the forwards have had a bit of difficulty with sustained execution and chemistry. Perhaps things were getting a bit stale early in the season and the team fought through some nagging injuries and a brutal schedule.

With three full days to rest and with two veteran forwards set to return, the Stars should hit the ice full of energy and with new life. It finally seems as if this is a whole team again, as it's been a very long time since the Stars have gone this long without Modano on the ice (and will have to get used to that eventually). Modano provides immediate stability on the third line, while Lehtinen will hopefully spark Morrow and Ribeiro enough to get them out of whatever funk they may be in.

Marty Turco will also be back in net after missing two games with 'flu-like symptoms'.

Expected lines:

Neal-Richards-Eriksson
Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Ott-Modano-Benn
Sutherby-Wandell-Brunnstrom

Grossman-Robidas
Skrastins-Daley
Fistric-Niskanen

Turco

The Calgary Flames:

In their first meeting against the Flames on October 9th, the Stars got their first win of the season behind a solid effort by Alex Auld and opportunistic offense in the third period. Although the Flames have an admirable record (like the Stars) to start the season, they are coming off two straight losses and the team isn't happy with how things have been going. From Matchsticks and Gasoline:

After an indifferent finish to the Flames' homestand, the boss decided he'd seen quite enough, with a practice meant to shake a few people up. I'm skeptical when it comes to the long term effects, so the fact that the players said all the right things won't mean much until the results match the words. 

The lines appear set for another adjustment, with Nystrom getting a chance to work with the reunited Jokinen-Iginla pairing. I'm on the record as "not a fan" of that duo, although the next two lines of Bourque-Langkow-Dawes and Glencross-Boyd-Moss are good by me. My hope for Boyd this year was that he superceded Conroy based on good play, and not because the Flames' elder statesman fell off a cliff. There's enough evidence of that to be reassured on that point at least.

Kipper 5 v 5: 3-14 vs. Colorado, 2-25 vs. Detroit. Season total - 21 GA, 256 SA, .918 5 v 5 SV%. Sort of a meh week for the Flames' netminder. An extra save or two would have been nice, but I can't really blame him for the team's results, because slack-ass work from the skaters drove the results into the ditch against the Avs and Wings.

Projected lines [UPDATED]:

Nystrom-Jokinen-Iginla
Bourque-Langkow-Dawes
Glencross-Boyd-Moss
Prust-Conroy-Sjostrom

Regher-Phaneuf
Bouwmeester-Sarich
Pardy-Giordano

McElhinney

Key Injuries:

Dallas: None

Calgary: Mikka Kiprusoff will miss tonight's game with what Flames head coach Brent Sutter is calling, 'a touch of the bug', according to the Calgary Herald's Flames Insider. Kiprusoff stayed at the team hotel during Calgary's morning skate but will be on the bench to serve as Curtis McElhinney's backup. [Update from Brandon Bibb at 4:22 pm CST]

Comment 9 comments  |  0 recs  | 

Do you like this story?

Comments

Display:

"Key Injuries: None"

I’ve never seen that before… what does that mean?

:-P

I’m scared it won’t stay that way for more than a game or two…

by Tsudbury on Nov 4, 2009 9:28 AM CST reply actions  

Brandon, based on the media reports in Calgary before the team flew to Dallas, I’d guess the line up for the Flames might roughly look like this:

Nystrom-Jokinen-Iginla
Bourque-Langkow-Dawes
Glencross-Boyd-Moss
Prust-Conroy-Sjostrom

Regher-Phaneuf
Bouwmeester-Sarich
Pardy-Giordano

Kiprusoff

At least, that’s how they might start. How they’ll finish is another story, of course.

by Robert Cleave on Nov 4, 2009 10:06 AM CST reply actions  

Ah thanks.

I’ll update the preview; was going by what was on M&G

Defending Big D: A Dallas Stars blog on SBN: easy to use, free to join.

by Brandon Worley on Nov 4, 2009 11:37 AM CST up reply actions  

No sweat, Brandon. Kent just updated the sideboard, and has Nystrom-Jokinen-Iginla as the third line, which is about where any Jokinen-Iginla combo would rate based on actual play, and even that might be generous.

by Robert Cleave on Nov 4, 2009 12:56 PM CST up reply actions  

I am

scared of the Flames.

The Stars now famous slow starts at home and the Flames eagerness to put forth a good effort is a recipe for disaster tonight.

by Brad Gardner on Nov 4, 2009 10:47 AM CST reply actions  

Kiprusoff ill

Kiprusoff is feeling ill and went back to the hotel. Looks like you guys will face McElhinney instead.

Source

by danneskjold on Nov 4, 2009 1:32 PM CST reply actions  

Uh...

Oh darn.

Defending Big D: A Dallas Stars blog on SBN: easy to use, free to join.

by Brandon Worley on Nov 4, 2009 1:35 PM CST up reply actions  

Interesting...

…to see how the Flames are getting hammered from a PR standpoint for inoculating their entire team against the H1N1 vaccine.

Guessing

Defending Big D Free to use and easy to join, as well as easy to use and free to join!
TheStarsFans Like your neighborhood bar, but alot drunkier
YNWA Because do you really want to root for ManU?

by Brandon Bibb on Nov 4, 2009 4:15 PM CST reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to SB Nation's Dallas Stars website. We talk Stars hockey 24/7/365. You're welcome to join in the discussion; please follow the code of conduct for commentary.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
Young, Controllable and Talented
Small
Another Jersey Design
Small
Season Ticket Holders
Untitled_000000_small
Week of 1-30 OT Thread - Ad Space For Sale...Just Kidding
317075_10150847392930195_672210194_21620161_1404425884_n_small
NHL Draft Watch 2012: The Goaltenders
Star_wings_small
Nittymaki on waivers...
G30_reveal_star_lg_small
Goose or Neal?
Untitled_000000_small
Week of 1-23 OT Thread - I'm Just Writing Words To Make This Stick Out
Star_wings_small
Trade deadline targets
Small
New Lines To Stop The Slide

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >


Managing Editors

Profile_small Brandon Worley

Sb_avatar_small Brad Gardner

Staff Writers

Twitterme_small Brandon Bibb

Hullring_small Cole Jones

198849_alds_rangers_rays_baseball_small Josh Lile

Me2_small Taylor Baird

Erin_and_kevin_at_rangers_small Erin Bolen

Contributors

Small starshorns

Pic_2011-02_small scm83x

Graphic Design Artist

Avatar_small RyanM