Game of the Night 11/12

Just twenty-four hours after a hard fought game between two division rivals, the Dallas Stars are right back at it again with another game in Southern California, this time against the high-flying Anaheim Ducks. The Stars fell to the Kings 3-1 in a hard fought, physical battle. The Ducks had yesterday off after beating the Islanders 1-0 on Wednesday.

The Stars (8-6-0) currently sit in tenth in the Western Conference but stand to move up dramatically, circumstances permitting, with a win tonight. Led on offense by Brad Richards with 6 g and 18 pts and Loui Eriksson 7 g 16 pts, the Stars average 3.00 GF/G, good for 11th in the league. Their defense ranks 15th in the league, allowing 2.86 GA/G. Kari Lehtonen should be getting the start in net for Dallas tonight, he is 7-5-0 with a .906 and a 2.87.

The Ducks (9-7-1) currently sit in fifth place in the West and are undefeated in the month of November so far, winning all five games they've played, all of them one goal games. The Finnish Flash is showing

[caption id="attachment_319" align="alignleft" width="194" caption="The Finnish Flash showing he can still dazzle "][/caption]

he still has some game as he leads the team with 7 goals and 18 points. Captain Ryan Getzlaf is tied with Selanne with 6 goals and 18 points. Expect Jonas Hiller in net for the Ducks tonight. The young Swiss goaltender has earned a 7-5-1 record with a .918 and a 2.90, although most of his five losses came at a very slow start to no fault of his own.

I would say that given the game they played last night, the Stars will be a little tired for this game due to the rough nature of the game yesterday. I hope the Stars crush the Ducks for Kyle Hunter (a friend of mine up at school who's a huge Ducks fan) although I think it will be another hard fought close Pacific Division game with the Ducks edging out yet another one goal win 3-2. Bobby Ryan will be the star of the game.