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Stars Gameday: 3/1/15 vs. ANA |
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Staring at a virtually insurmountable nine-point gap in the Western Conference wildcard chase with 20 games left to play, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (27-25-10) play host to Bruce Boudreau's Anaheim Ducks (39-17-7) on Sunday night. Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:00 p.m. CST. The game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This the second of three meetings this season between the teams, and the second and final game in Dallas. On Halloween, the visiting Ducks claimed a 2-1 overtime victory.
The Stars enter this game looking to snap a five-game winless streak (0-3-2) that has seen the club lose a pair of games in which the team held a two-goal lead -- in one game, a pair of separate two-goal leads -- in the third period.
On Friday, Dallas sustained a 5-4 shootout loss to Colorado. Afterwards, Ruff laid most of the blame at the feet of goaltender Kari Lehtonen, telling the media, "The goaltending doesn’t match the effort of the team right now."
The Stars may have Patrick Eaves back in the lineup on Sunday. The forward, who has missed seven games with a concussion after getting struck by a puck in the head, practiced on Saturday. Top scorer Tyler Seguin (knee) remains out of the lineup, as do Valeri Nichushkin (hip surgery) and Travis Moen (upper body).
Anaheim enters this come coming off a 4-2 home comeback win over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday. The Ducks trailed, 2-0, at the second intermission before exploding for four goals.
The Ducks made a trade with the Florida Panthers on Saturday. Anaheim sent Dany Heatley and and a 2015 third-round pick to the Panthers in exchange for veteran checking forward Tomas Fleischmann. Earlier in the week, Anaheim dealt Devante Smith-Pelly to Montreal, picking up forward Jiri Sekac.
On the Anaheim injury front, defenseman Sami Vatanen (leg) and forwards Matt Beleskey (shoulder) and Nate Thompson (lower body) are out of the lineup.
Dallas Stars Blogger • 
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