The Dallas Stars will enter the All-Star break after a tough Tuesday night matchup with the Boston Bruins at American Airlines Center.
The Stars had a slow start to the season, but they have improved over the last few weeks with points in seven of their last 10 games, including a two-game win streak. They are just four points behind the Calgary Flames for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Bruins enter this game coming off a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice Saturday night. The defeat ended Boston’s five-game win streak, but the Original Six club has earned at least one point from 11 of its last 13 games.
The B’s have a four-point lead over the Florida Panthers for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The expected goaltender matchup is Tuukka Rask (Boston) versus Kari Lehtonen (Dallas).
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (24-16-6, fourth in Atlantic)
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Jordan Caron-Gregory Campbell-Craig Cunningham
Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
DALLAS STARSÂ (21-17-7, fifth in Central)
Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Colton Sceviour
Erik Cole-Jason Spezza-Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel-Cody Eakin-Ryan Garbutt
Shawn Horcoff-Vernon Fiddler-Travis Moen
Alex Goligoski-John Klingberg
Jordie Benn-Jason Demers
Jyrki Jokipakka-Jamie Oleksiak
Kari Lehtonen
Thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images
