The Stars face the Los Angeles Kings on the road for the second time this season.
The Dallas Stars had two relaxing days off in the Southern California sun to rejuvenate after a 2-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, but it is back to business Friday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Stars visit Luka Doncic's new home (too soon?) to take on the Kings at Crypto.com Arena for the second time this season. In the prior meeting, Dallas jumped out to a 2-0 lead before allowing three straight goals in a 3-2 loss.
The Stars only have one more game, the second of their back-to-back games against San Jose Saturday night before a long break for the Four Nations Face-Off tournament for most of the team. Esa Lindell, Mikael Granlund, Roope Hintz and Jake Oettinger will head to their respective national teams for the tournament.
The Stars are trying to bounce back after a 2-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, but they will have to do it with a very thin blue-line. After losing Miro Heiskanen and Nils Lundkvist to surgery in the same week, the Stars made a move to add Cody Ceci to the back end, and it appears it was at the perfect time. All seemed like it could be well until Heiskanen came back, but Ilya Lyubushkin left the game against the Ducks early and it was announced at morning skate that he would not be playing against Los Angeles and was unlikely for the game against the Sharks.
Brendan Smith, who has been slotting in as a forward due to injuries, will be back playing defense in the absence of Lyubushkin. Mavrik Bourque will get back in the lineup after taking a puck to the face and getting a gnarly cut on his face Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. This means Colin Blackwell will be the healthy scratch despite scoring the lone goal against the Ducks just two nights ago.
The Kings are looking to build off of their 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens. LA got goal support from Vladislav Gavrikov, Brandt Clarke, Trevor Moore and Kevin Fiala, who scored twice. Warren Foegele also scored on a penalty shot after being tripped on a breakaway by Logan Mailloux. Expect the same lineup for the Kings minus goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who will not start because his wife just had their son. David Rittich will be in net in his stead.
The Stars have won 11 of their last 15 games against the Kings. However, this season, the Kings are 10-1-0 against playoff teams at home.
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