Flames, Stars look to keep good vibes going
DALLAS -- The Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars both had big victories over the weekend, making Tuesday's matchup at American Airlines Center a battle of two teams showing good form.
Calgary (13-13-2) blitzed the Anaheim Ducks 8-3 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday.
First-year Flames coach Glen Gulutzan, who coached Dallas from 2011 to 2013, said, "Well, you don't get too many games in the NHL where you can breathe. I thought eight different goal scorers is good, too. It's good for team morale; it's good for confidence for the whole group. I thought everybody played a solid game."
The Flames, who have won three straight and five of their past seven, got a goal and an assist each from Sam Bennett, former Star Alex Chiasson and Matt Stajan in that win over the Ducks.
"I think this can boost our offense," Chiasson said of the Flames' offensive outburst against Anaheim. "Maybe we get a little more confidence. We've got eight games until Christmas, and this is a real important stretch for us as a team. It's nice for us to get everyone on the scoring page and build some confidence for the next little bit."
Stars coach Lindy Ruff, whose team ended a 1-2-1 road trip with a 2-0 win at Colorado on Saturday night, was also impressed with Calgary's onslaught against Anaheim.
"They are playing well," Ruff said. "Their goaltender, (Chad) Johnson, has really played well for them, has kind of taken over, so this is going to be a real hard test. We're coming off a tough grind on the road and coming against a team that has been really going well."
Dallas (10-10-6) is 6-3-2 at home and will face a Flames team that is 7-6-2 on the road. And even though the Stars took only three of a possible eight points on their four-game trip, the feeling in the room is that they easily could have won two of those games.
"Against Detroit (on Tuesday, a 3-1 loss), I thought we played well," said center Tyler Seguin, who leads Dallas with 27 points. "We didn't execute. We had chances to score, got our looks and didn't. Against (Pittsburgh, a 6-2 loss on Thursday), we played well until the last four or five minutes there. It was a 6-2 loss, but it was a game that was right there if we wanted it. We could have taken it; we just didn't."
The Stars will continue to be without three key veterans for Tuesday's game. Veteran forward Jiri Hudler, out the past 17 games due to illness, went through his first practice with teammates on Monday but is still a bit away from returning to game action.
"I really think he's going to need some real good, hard practices and conditioning after practice," Ruff said of Hudler, who was signed to a one-year contract last offseason. "He's had some hard skates; he's been up and down. The reports have feel good one day and not so good the next day. I want to make sure he's up to speed before he gets back in."
Defenseman Johnny Oduya has missed seven straight games with a lower-body injury, but it appears the veteran blueliner could return later this week.
"Johnny's doing pretty well. I think he'll skate with us in the morning (Tuesday)," Ruff said. "I think we're looking at him sometime later in the week."
However, the news isn't so favorable on veteran forward Patrick Sharp, who has re-entered the league's concussion protocol after missing Saturday's win in Colorado.
"We don't know if this is still lingering from the first time," Ruff said. "In the Pittsburgh game, he was going backwards and got just a little bit of a (whiplash), nothing major, but was really slow to get up inside that game and just didn't feel right."
Ruff said Dallas will recall a player from its AHL affiliate in Cedar Park, Texas, but that roster move wasn't to come until Tuesday morning.
The Stars, who defeated the Flames 4-2 in Calgary on Nov. 10, are beginning a stretch in which they will play nine of 14 games at home -- a run Seguin knows he and his teammates must capitalize on.
"Obviously, we have a lot of home games coming up. We have to take advantage of that," Seguin said. "You want to play hard at home. We've had a decent record there, so we want to keep going."
