Stars At Blues Game Preview: Stars' Playoff Hopes Chugging Along

The Dallas Stars are a good example of how quickly a team's good fortunes can turn on a dime. A five game winning streak that looked like it could propel the Stars into the playoffs was snapped by the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, and they lost a little ground in the race to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings. Last night, though, they hopped Detroit to ninth place with a decisive win over the Vancouver Canucks. They're now just two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for that last playoff spot, so honestly, if you expect a quiet game tonight, you're nuts.

The last two games have been everything but quiet for the Blues, with the team getting under the skin of the Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, and Tim Peel. The only place where the Blues have been quiet have been the scoresheet, with just two regulation goals in their last two games. They might want to try to get the puck in the net a little bit more tonight, because the Stars have no problems scoring.

Brian Elliott has been St. Louis' secret weapon, and surprisingly with this being the second game of a back-to-back, he'll be back in net tonight. So will his compatriot in green and gold, Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen also allowed just one goal in the Stars' 5-1 shellacking of the Canucks.

Will tonight be a huge game for the Stars? Yup. Will they be able to make it past the Blues' defense? Hopefully not -- but it sure would be nice if our guys could make it past theirs.