The Dallas Stars are off to a decent start in the 2014-15 NHL season, with some games in which they played an excellent game throughout (Chicago, Columbus) and games in which they had trouble either offensively (Nashville) or defensively (Philadelphia). Still though, there are a lot of positives to take out of the first couple of weeks. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have really taken off, with Seguin earning the honor of being the 1st star of the week in the NHL with all of his 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) coming all in one week. Benn may not have the flashy stats that Seguin has, but he's contributed 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) and he showed how far he has come as a captain against Columbus. All that being said though, let's turn our attention to tonight's game, in which Dallas will look to get their first home win of the young season.
Dallas Stars
The Stars, as stated above, are coming off an overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, in which it was a show offensively but they could not get out of their own way defensively. Unfortunate bounces, lapses in their own zone, and bad penalties plagued this team and forced them to cough up a 4-2 lead in the final half of the third period against Philadelphia. They will look to shore up defensively tonight. Here is the projected lineup for Dallas.
Forwards
Jamie Benn - Jason Spezza - Tyler Seguin
Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin - Ryan Garbutt
Curtis McKenzie - Vernon Fiddler - Ales Hemsky
Erik Cole - Shawn Horcoff - Colton Sceviour
Defensemen
Alex Goligoski - Trevor Daley
Jordie Benn - Brenden Dillon
Jamie Oleksiak - Kevin Connauton
Goalies
Kari Lehtonen
Anders Lindback
The fans have not responded positively to the first line when it was used at practice on Monday. It will be interesting to see how coach Lindy Ruff adjusts these going forward, especially when Val Nichushkin gets back into the lineup and if secondary scoring becomes a big problem once again. The defense lost a key cog on Saturday when Patrik Nemeth suffered a severe arm laceration from the skates of Flyers forward R.J. Umberger. Now with Jamie Oleksiak being drawn into the lineup, Sergei Gonchar skating again, and Jyrki Jokipakka being recently called up on Sunday, the defense should be very intriguing to look at in the coming weeks. Kari Lehtonen is expected to start in between the pipes for the Stars.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have had a good start to the season under new coach (and former Texas Stars coach) Willie Desjardins. They are undefeated on the road so far, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. It seems as if they will be a threat to make the playoffs when this April rolls around. Their top line of the Sedin twins and Radim Vrbata have gotten off to a hot start, collectively having 18 points in the four games the club has played so far. They have good two-way defensemen in Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa, and Alex Edler, who could pose a threat to the Stars forwards. Ryan Miller, who was acquired by the Canucks in free agency this past July, is expected to get the start in net for Vancouver. Here is their projected lineup.
Forwards
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins - Nick Bonino - Alex Burrows
Shawn Matthias - Brad Richardson - Zack Kassian
Derek Dorsett - Linden Vey - Jannik Hansen
Defensemen
Dan Hamhuis - Kevin Bieksa
Alex Edler - Chris Tanev
Yannick Weber - Luca Sbisa
Goalies
Ryan Miller
Eddie Lack
Key Storylines
1. How will Dallas respond to Ruff's harsh criticisms on Saturday?
2. Will the Stars have enough secondary scoring to pull off the win?
3. Follow-up to #2 - Will Ruff balance out the forward lines during the game?
4. Can Kari Lehtonen make clutch saves for the Stars?
5. How will Willie Desjardins be treated in his return to the Stars organization? Can he pull out a win amongst high emotions?
Prediction
This will be a very interesting tilt tonight. Both clubs are off to good starts, and look to be prime contenders in the Western Conference. This could very well go past 60 minutes, much like the Stars have in their first two games at the American Airlines Center. And similarly to those games, I believe the visitors will get the extra point. Vancouver has much more balanced lines than the Stars and a more clutch goalie in Ryan Miller, who will make those key saves to give the Canucks a win in the shootout.
Score - Vancouver 3, Dallas 2 (Shootout)
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