The Dallas Stars kick off a three-game western Canadian road trip tonight, starting in Alberta with the Calgary Flames.
While things have been going very right for the Stars in the early season, last season they had trouble against the Flames, getting outscored 16-15 in a three game set and allowing the Flames to walk away from the series with 5 out of 6 possible points.
However, the Flames have had troubles of their own in the early season and have dropped 7 of their first 9 games. Things are so bad in the organization that multiple news outlets have reported that all contract negotiations for the season have halted as “radical new approaches” are being considered. Former pillars of the team may no longer be considered foundational.
But who cares about the Flames future, this is all about tonight, right?
Andrew Mangiapane, their top right wing, is always a player to look out for. He opened the season with two goals and an assist to secure a win against the Winnipeg Jets. So far, that is one of only two Flames wins, the other against the Buffalo Sabres earlier in October.
In net will be Jacob Markstrom, who has faced off against some of the Texas Stars quite often as the San Antonio Rampage goalie. His save percentage on the season is above the .900 mark, but he’s behind an incredibly leaky defense, having faced over 200 shots in the early season so far. (For reference, Oettinger has only had 150 shots come through.)
All this to say, things don’t look good for the Flames tonight, but that’s just the kind of game that the Stars like to lose, so who really knows?
Dallas Stars Line Up
No new rosters have been posted since Monday, so there may be some changes. Also, the line scrambler has been in full force.
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Jamie Benn (14) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Evgenii Dadonov (63)
Mason Marchment (27) – Matt Duchene (95) – Tyler Seguin (91)
Craig Smith (15) – Radek Faksa (12) – Ty Dellandrea (10)
Ryan Suter (20) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Esa Lindell (23) – Nils Lundkvist (5)
Thomas Harley (55) – Jani Hakanpää (2)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
Calgary Flames Line Up
These are the lines the Flames practiced Tuesday morning.
Jonathan Huberdeau (10) – Elias Lindholm (28) – Andrew Mangiapane (88)
Dryden Hunt (15) – Mikael Backlund (11) – Blake Coleman (20)
Yegor Sharangovich (17) – Nazem Kadri (91) – Connor Zary (47)
A.J. Greer (18) – Matt Coronato (27) – Walker Duehr (71)
MacKenzie Weegar (52) – Rasmus Andersson (4)
Noah Hanifin (55) – Chris Tanev (8)
Dennis Gilbert (48) – Jordan Oesterle (82)
Jacob Markstrom (25)
Dan Vladar (80)
Where To Watch
Puck drop will be at 7:30 pm CST on BSSW.