Here's how crazy things have become in the West: twelve hours ago, the Dallas Stars were in fifth place, now they're in seventh. If they win tonight then they could hop back up to fifth. If they lose, then chances are they'll be in eighth. There is absolutely no room for error now.
The Dallas Stars will be moving forward now without their second leading scorer Brad RIchards and will be looking to several individuals to fill his skates. Coming off a big win in Columbus on Monday night the Stars must start playing better as a team and not rely so heavily Marty Turco, who has been outstanding over the past month. Dallas is 8-3-0 since January 25th and must continue to play at that level for the rest of the season to maintain hope of grabbing a playoff spot.
The Edmonton Oilers are 3-1-0 over their last four games and are coming off a 4-2 loss Tuesday night in San Jose. Even more importantly, the Oilers sit one point back of the Stars in the standings and a loss would drop them out of the top eight. This season the Stars are 1-2-0 against the Oilers and have been outscord 12-7 in those three games.
This should be yet another playoff-atmosphere type game where there is little room for error on each side. The Stars need to set the tempo in this game and not fall back on the play of Turco. You can't expect to win every game if you are outshot and outhit by your opponent every game.
Key Injuries:
 |
2008-2009 Team Stats |  |
| 62 | Points: | 63 |
| 29 | Wins: | 28 |
| 1 | Shutouts: | 2 |
| 18 | Power Play Rank: | 21 |
| 28 | Penalty Kill Rank: | 22 |
| .842 | Win % When Leading After 1: | .882 |
| .944 | Win % When Leading After 2: | .875 |
| .222 | Win % When Trailing After 1: | .333 |
| .087 | Win % When Trailing After 2: | .053 |