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Hockey Fights Cancer Night As Stars Take On Islanders

The 11-7-0 New York Islanders come to town to play the 10-5-2 Dallas Stars Saturday night on Hockey Fights Cancer Night at the American Airlines Center.  The Stars look to improve on their 4-2-0 home record as they begin a four-game Thanksgiving home stand.

Islanders Mid-Road Trip

The Islanders have been playing on the road since Monday, November 14th.  They started their trip with a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators followed by a 5-4 loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday.  After playing in Dallas tonight, they will face the Maple Leafs in Toronto next Monday before returning home.  The Islanders have a 5-4-0 record in all road games this season.  They currently sit third in the Metropolitan division with 22 points behind the streaking New Jersey Devils, who have won 11 games straight and have 28 points.  The Isles are 7th in the league with 61 goals for and 9th in the league with 48 goals against this season.  Their special teams hold a 20.75 power play percentage and an 83.33 penalty kill percentage.

Top Player Comparisons for Points

The first thing that jumps out to me is that Mathew Barzal is leading the Islanders with 19 points and has not scored a goal yet this season.  That is a tough feat considering he has taken 47 shots in the season.  Surely, he will be hungry to get that first goal under his belt tonight in Dallas.  Dallas has played 17 games this season and all four of our top point scorers are at or above a point per game, which is rather impressive.  Also, Jason Robertson’s 26 points are good for 4th in the league right now.  Robertson and Roope Hintz look to extend their career-high point streaks to 11 games tonight.

Dallas Roster Movement

The Stars had loaned Matej Blumel back to the Texas Stars since the last game in Florida, but it appears he has been recalled again today.  Starting goaltending duties go to Jake Oettinger for the game tonight.

Although Denis Gurianov is close to returning from his injury and has been skating recently, he is a game-time decision for the tilt tonight.  The defensive pairings may be mixed a bit more tonight as well.

A Look At The Netminders

Jake Oettinger has recorded six wins in ten games started notching one shutout during that time.  He has a save percentage of 0.927 and a goals against average of 2.24.  Ilya Sorokin has seven wins in 12 games started with one shutout as well.  He has a save percentage of 0.925 and a goals against average of 2.77.

Expected Lineups

Dallas Stars

Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Mason Marchment — Tyler Seguin — Matej Blumel
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Ty Dellandrea
Radek Faksa — Luke Glendening — Joel Kiviranata

Miro Heiskanen — Colin Miller
Ryan Suter — Nils Lundkvist
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpaa

Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood

New York Islanders

Zach Parise—Mathew Barzal—Oliver Wahlstrom
Anders Lee—Brock Nelson—Anthony Beauvillier
Josh Bailey—Jean-Gabriel Pageau—Kyle Palmieri
Matt Martin—Casey Cizikas—Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech—Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov—Noah Dobson
Sebastian Aho—Scott Mayfield

Semyon Varlamov
Ilya Sorokin

Where To Watch

The game will start tonight at 7:00 PM CDT and will be broadcasted to watch on Bally Sports Southwest and to listen via radio on The Ticket 96.7 FM/1310 AM.

Talking Points