The Dallas Stars are in Pennsylvania tonight for the opening of their eastern road trip, taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Stars
The Stars just finished a five game homestand, going 3-1-1 over the span. Three of the last four games have gone to extra time, including the last two games against Ottawa and Detroit, which both ended in a win for Dallas, snapping their overtime losing streak.
Despite needing extra time for recent decisions, the Stars have been having a promising first half of the season. Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski, and Jason Robertson have 44 goals and 59 assists between them, and the defense is holding up the back end with a goals against average of 2.71.
Other news: The Stars called Riley Tufte up from the Texas Stars. A member of the 2016 draft class and an overall massive person at 6’6” and over 200 pounds, Tufte scored one goal in ten games last season for the Stars.
Line up:
Jason Robertson—Roope Hintz—Joe Pavelski
Mason Marchment—Tyler Seguin—Ty Dellandrea
Jamie Benn—Wyatt Johnston—Denis Gurianov
Joel Kiviranta—Radek Faksa—Luke Glendening
Mrio Heiskanen—Nils Lundkvist
Ryan Suter—Colin Miller
Esa Lindell—Jani Hakanpaa
Jake Oettinger
The Penguins
The Penguins have also been having a great first half of their season. They currently have a goals-per-game average of 3.5, mostly on the back of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jake Guentzel, and a goals against average of 2.79.
The Penguins are coming off two victories in a back-to-back home-and-home with the Buffalo Sabres over the weekend. On the topic of overtime, one of those games did require extra time to finish. They are currently on a five game winning streak.
According to our friends over at Pensburgh, Crosby has only recorded 20 points in 19 games against the Stars in his career, making them one of his least scored upon opponents. So that’s a point in their favor, surely?
Other notes: this will be Kris Letang’s first return to the line up since his stroke on November 28.
Line up:
Jake Guentzel—Sidney Crosby—Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker—Evgeni Malkin—Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn—Jeff Carter—Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling—Teddy Blueger—Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson—Jeff PetryRobertson — Hintz — Pavelski Marchment — Seguin — Dellandrea Benn — Johnston — Gurianov Kiviranta — Faksa — Glendening
Pierre-Olivier Joseph—Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin—Jan Rutta
Tristan Jarry
Casey DeSmith
How to Watch
Puck drop will be at 6 pm CST tonight on BallySports Southwest Extra and 96.7 FM The Ticket.