Preview, Game Day #78: Dallas Stars @ Los Angeles Kings

Dallas Stars @ Los Angeles Kings

Time: 1:00 Pacific

TV: FSW

Enemy Reading: Defending Big D

Los Angeles Kings

Pearson - Kopitar - Brown
Lucic - Carter - Toffoli
King - Lecavalier - Versteeg
Clifford - Dowd - Lewis

McNabb - Doughty
Muzzin - Martinez
Scuderi - Schenn

Quick
(Enroth)

Injured: Gaborik, Greene, Nolan Scratched: Andreoff, Shore, McBain

Dallas Stars

Benn - Eakin - Sharp
Janmark - Spezza - Nichushkin
Roussel - Faksa - Hemsky
Moen - Fiddler - Eaves

Goligoski - Klingberg
Nemeth - Benn
Oduya - Johns

Lehtonen
(Niemi)

Notes

• Tough luck for Andy Andreoff, who scored yesterday and has looked more comfortable on the ice than I can remember in a while. Kris Versteeg is back, though, and Darryl Sutter opted to keep Nic Dowd as the fourth line center.
• Last year I posted regular Pacific Division standings updatess in this section, and that went poorly. Instead, I just get to tell you what's going on, and last night brought terrific news in the form of a Vancouver Canucks win -- IN REGULATION -- over the Anaheim Ducks. Aside from the highly anticipated Kings-Ducks showdown on April 7, the Ducks have two playoff opponents and two easy opponents to contend with down the stretch, while this is the only other game LA will play against a playoff team. Anaheim's beaten up, too. The opportunity is there.
• Stars games are usually fun, right? Fun being back-and-forth and high-scoring. I'd prefer a level of fun equivalent to Thursday, which was fun because it was simple.
• Chances are rather slim for LA to grab the #1 seed in the conference already, but a loss tonight all but ends those chances.
• PREDICTION: Kings 4, Stars 2. Dustin Brown empty-netter./