Game 50

Buffalo Sabres (25-18-6) vs. Dallas Stars (24-21-4)

Puck Drop: 8:30 PM | American Airlines Center | Dallas, TX

TV: MSG-B

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Stars Blog: Defending Big D

Know Your Opponent

Dallas Stars

Record: (24-21-4) | 52 points

Last 10: 4-5-1

Division Ranking: 4th in the Central Division

Conference Ranking: 7th in the Western Conference

PP: 13th (20.6 %)

PK: 8th (83.1 %)

What to Watch

1. Two defensive stars meet for the first time

Tonight will be the first meeting between two of the upcoming stars on the blue. The Sabres will feature 2018 first overall pick Rasmus Dahlin in their lineup tonight. He has eight points in his last seven game entering tonight.

The Stars will have 2017 second overall pick Miro Heiskanen in their lineup. The Finnish blueliner is having a really nice rookie season for the Stars and is part of the group chasing Elias Pettersson for the Calder Trophy.

2. Emergence of a second line?

The Sabres pulled off a nice win against the Blue Jackets last night. The victory was fueled by a strong performance from the second line of Conor Sheary, Casey Mittelstadt, and Evan Rodrigues. They were responsible for two goals last night, including the game-winner. Would be a great sign if they can emerge as a second threat behind the top line.

3. Goals won’t come easy

Believe it or not the Stars have allowed the second least amount of goals this season (128) in the league. They’ve got good goaltending from Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin this season. The Sabres will likely see Bishop tonight with this being their first game out of the break. He’s 10-0-1 against the Sabres in his career with a .940 save percentage.

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

Conor Sheary – Casey Mittelstadt – Evan Rodrigues

Tage Thompson – Vladimir Sobotka – Jason Pominville

Zemgus Girgensons – Johan Larsson – Kyle Okposo

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

Jake McCabe – Rasmus Ristolainen

Matt Hunwick – Marco Scandella

Starting Goaltender: Linus Ullmark

Dallas Stars

Forwards

Jamie Benn – Radek Faska – Blake Comeau

Mattias Janmark – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov

Andrew Cogliano – Jason Dickinson – Jason Spezza

Valeri Nichushkin – Roope Hintz – Brett Ritchie

Defense

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg

Miro Heiskanen – Roman Polak

Jamie Oleksiak – Taylor Fedun

Starting Goaltender: Ben Bishop