Dallas Stars At St. Louis Blues Morning Open Thread: Struggling Stars In Hostile Territory

The Dallas Stars sit in fifth place in the Central Division with an unimpressive -15 goal differential. If Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin didn't exist, that number may be even worse. Seguin leads the Stars with seven goals and fifteen assists; Benn is second on the team with six goals and eleven assists. Toss in Patrick Eaves (9 goals) and Brett Richie (6 goals), and you'd think that the Stars could be dangerous. They can be. They're 5-3-2 in their last ten and seem to be shaking off the same doldrums that tied the Blues up earlier this season.

But Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen are still Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen. Their GAAs are 2.97 and 3.38, respectively, thanks to a defense that can't seem to gel. Exploit that defense and exploit Dallas' traditionally meh goaltending, and the Blues could be looking at their tenth home win of the season.

This is your morning open thread. Check back later on for a Lighting the Lamp from Rick, your game preview, and your GDT. While you're waiting for the puck to drop on tonight's game (if you're out of the STL area, it's on the NHL Network tonight), head over to Defending Big D and say howdy.