The Dallas Stars are back home in the American Airlines Center for the first game in a five game home stand. Up first are the Anaheim Ducks, who are having just the worst season, which is not hyperbolic, they are literally the last team in the league.
The Stars
The Stars split the difference on their recent road trip, losing 1-4 to the Colorado Avalanche and then winning 4-1 against the St. Louis Blues. Both games saw Scott Wedgewood in net, providing the backstop to what has been a very serviceable defense this season. Jake Oettinger was scheduled for the Blues game but was a last minute decision due to being “under the weather.”
Still, even with occasional blow outs, the Stars have more going for them than against them, and it’s comforting that Wedgewood is such a solid back up.
The Ducks
Are, again, having literally the worst season. They’re under a new general manager in Pat Verbeek, who hoped by midseason the team would be breaking .500. They’ve won 6 of 23 games so far, so that’s pretty wildly off the mark set by the GM.
Of course, the biggest news tonight was supposed to be John Klingberg’s return to the AAC since moving to Anaheim, but due to a lower body injury, Klingberg did not travel with the team and will not be available tonight to play. It’s been reported that the new GM has been less than thrilled with his performance, but a look at the underlying numbers show that Klingberg has been a possession driver for their shoddy defense since moving over.
Their goaltender, John Gibson, has been having a worse than average year as well with an .894 save percentage, though the leaky defense hasn’t been helping. Over 1096 minutes played this season, their projected goals against average is currently 3.45, and they’re not making that up with their goals for average, which is currently 2.49.
Stars Line-up
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Radek Faksa — Tyler Seguin — Mason Marchment
Ty Dellandrea — Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston
Denis Gurianov — Luke Glendening — Joel Kiviranta
Miro Heiskanen — Ryan Suter
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpaa
Joel Hanley — Colin Miller
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Ducks Line-up
Trevor Zegras — Adam Henrique — Troy Terry
Derek Grant — Ryan Strome — Frank Vatrano
Max Jones — Mason McTavish — Brett Leason
Sam Carrick — Isac Lundestrom — Jakob Silfverberg
Cam Fowler — Dmitry Kulikov
Urho Vaakanainen — Kevin Shattenkirk
Simon Benoit — Colton White
John Gibson
Anthony Stolarz
**based on last game
How to Watch
The game will be on BallySports Southwest and 96.7 FM The Ticket. Puck drop is at 7:30 pm CST.