Stars-Blues Preview

St. Louis Blues at Dallas Stars
Sunday March 3
2:00 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports Southwest
Radio: KTCK-1310 (AM)

About the Stars

The Stars (10-9-2) are coming off a 5-1 loss to Edmonton at American Airlines Center on Thursday. The Stars were down 2-0 after one period and any thoughts of a comeback effort were dashed by a rash of penalties. They ended up being shorthanded nine times in the game.

“It was an odd night. It was an odd night,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “They got a couple of bounces early and the penalties didn’t allow us to get back in the game.”

Thursday’s game against Edmonton began a stretch that will see the Stars play 11 of 15 games at home, where they are 4-4-1 this season.

Kari Lehtonen is the expected starter in goal for the Stars.

Injuries: D Philip Larsen (shoulder), D Aaron Rome (foot) and LW Ray Whitney (foot) are out.

About the Blues

The Blues (11-7-2) are coming off a 4-2 win over Edmonton in St. Louis Friday. The Blues allowed two goals in 23 seconds late in the first to fall behind 2-0, but scored four unanswered goals for the win.

“Even after the first period we felt if we could get the next goal we could make a game of it. We got a great goal from (Jaden Schwartz) and away we went,” said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. “I thought our second period was excellent. I thought we did a lot of good things in the second and really started to take the game over.”

Sunday’s game begins a five-game road trip for the Blues, who are 6-2-1 away from home this season.

The Blues put center Alexander Steen (shoulder) on injured reserve Saturday.

Brian Elliot is expected in goal for the Blues.

Injuries:  C Alexander Steen (shoulder), C Andy McDonald (knee), RW Vladimir Tarasenko (concussion) and RW Jamie Langenbrunner (hip) are out.

Series Notes

*This is the second of three meetings between the two teams.

*January 26, St. Louis at Dallas: Blues 4, Stars 3

Statistical tidbits

*The Stars have allowed four goals or more in six of the last eight games, and have surrendered 33 goals over those eight games (4.13 per game).

*The Blues allow the fewest shots per game in the NHL (22.6), but have the worst team save percentage in the league (.876).

*The Blues, who have the league’s top ranked power play at 29.4 percent, are 1-15 with the man-advantage over the last six games.

*The Stars have allowed at least one power play goal in six of the last eight games and are 29-36 (80.6%) on the penalty kill during that stretch.

*Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen is 7-2-0 in his career vs. the Blues with a 1.64 goals against average and .948 save percentage.

*Blues goaltender Brian Elliot has played two games in his career against the Stars, posting a 0-1-0 record, 3.32 goals against average and .907 save percentage.

Statistical matchup