Pregame Notes (Game 36): Stars Look To Start The New Year Off Strong

The Dallas Stars (22-9-4) won back-to-back games against the Chicago Blackhawks and now look to keep rolling tonight when they host the Montreal Canadiens (15-16-5).

The Stars are on the third game of their current five-game homestand. The first game against the Blackhawks was a game of two teams giving up multi-goal leads but the second was utter domination from the Stars.

In the first meeting, Roope Hintz scored a hat-trick, including the overtime winner. It was Mason Marchment's turn to record a hat-trick as his three goals were part of the eight that the Stars put past Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom.

Seven Stars players recoreded multi-point games and 14 players recorded at least one point. 

This is the final game of the Canadiens seven game road-trip and the Canadiens have lost three-straight games including a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canadiens scored one of the strangest goals in NHL history against the Lightning. 

This matchup against the Canadiens splits the four-game streak of playing against central division teams before starting another six-game streak. 

Ty Dellandrea will play his second straight game after coming into the lineup for Radek Faska. Nils Lundkvist has three points in his last two games since he was inserted back into the lineup as well. Scott Wedgewood will start his eighth game in a row for the Stars. 

The Stars loaned goaltender Matt Murray to their AHL affilate the Texas Stars on January 1st but have recalled him today. The transaction was made for salary cap reasons. 

Stars projected lines:

Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov

Steel-Dellandrea-Smith

Suter-Heiskanen
Lindell-Hakanpaa
Harley-Lundkvist

Wedgewood
Murray

Puck drop is at 7 p.m. CST and can be seen on Bally Sports Southwest or NHL Network.

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