Gameday Preview: Stars at Charlotte Checkers

Texas Stars
21-9-2-3, 47 pts
#4 Western Conference
atCharlotte Checkers
14-18-0-1, 29 pts
#11 Western Conference
January 3rd at 6:00 PM
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC

UPDATE: Colton Sceviour has been assigned to Texas for tonight's game.

Back again for the second installment against the same team in 24 hours. Just a few things to note:

  • Texas has needed comebacks to each of their last two games and, while that's exciting, I'm sure they'd rather not have to do it again tonight. The numbers over the long-term for third period comebacks are not great.
  • Could Texas play Cristopher Nilstorp again tonight? Why not? He has been solid lately and will get a full week off to recover before potentially seeing game action again. The Texas Stars don't play again until January 10th at home.
  • The power play has been unbelievable for Texas. It's at 30.3%, which is an amazingly high level for any point in a season. The best power play percentage any team has had to finish the season since Texas joined the league was 25%. Maybe the Stars can maintain 30%, but the statistics say they can't. At some point, they will start having trouble on the power play. It will probably coincide with an increase in their competition (January 10th against Abbotsford, anyone?). They have to work on even-strength scoring, and Coach Desjardins knows it.

Stars injury/call up report:
Sceviour, Gaunce (callup)
Nemeth, Glennie, Campbell, Petersen (injury)

Website: gocheckers.com
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Blog (unofficial): Chasing Checkers
Twitter: @checkershockey
Twitter: @mikelappan (PR)
Twitter: @PaulBranecky

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