Gameday Preview: Stars at San Antonio Rampage

Texas Stars 42-17-3-5, 92 pts #1 Western Conference

at

San Antonio Rampage 26-30-3-6, 56 pts #14 Western Conference

March 27th at 7:00 PM

AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

If nothing else, this game will be an interesting story. You won't find this evening's game on the Stars' schedule magnet or any of the preseason information because it wasn't supposed to happen. Well, at least it wasn't supposed to happen tonight. The game was supposed to be completed March 1st. Tonight's game is, of course, the completion of the game suspended for poor ice conditions in San Antonio. You can read about the original game and the circumstances here.

The game this evening will start with 12:59 remaining in the first period. Texas will sport a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Scott Glennie and Curtis McKenzie. Jack Campbell will probably be in net for Texas. Oddly, Jacob Markstrom will not. He was traded by the Panthers to Vancouver at the deadline and may retroactively see himself tagged with a loss if the Stars win. Others on the game sheet that will not be in attendance for the resumed game include Colton Sceviour, Francis Wathier, Dustin Jeffrey and Vincent Trocheck. Not to mention the attendance. The original game was certainly going to be one of the best attended of the season for the Rampage. It was a Saturday and the first game back after the rodeo trip. It was also military appreciation night. Will those fans return for the restarted game on a Thursday? To be sure, it will be a messy postgame stat sheet.

When this game was originally set to be played, the Rampage were in pole position for the eighth playoff spot. They were ninth in the conference with a lot of home ice ahead of them. Since the game was called, the team has gone 2-7-0-1, sinking them to 14th in the conference and probably out of a playoff spot. Texas on the other hand went 9-1-0-0.

The Stars are currently riding a franchise-record six game winning streak. This game will not count toward that streak though. All stats will be recorded as if they occurred on March 1st. A win could extend their road win streak to six and their road point streak to eight by adding to the front and middle of each, respectively.

To a man, the Stars are not preparing for or thinking about this game any differently. Coach Desjardins was stern in reminding the media that the 2-0 lead means almost nothing if they let the Rampage score one quickly to put Texas on its heels. There's no momentum echoing across the 26 days from those two goals.

Stars injury/call up report:
Petersen (injury)

Website: sarampage.com
Blog (unofficial): Rampage with Tony U.
Blog (unofficial): Runnin' With The Herd
Twitter: @SARampage
Twitter: @DanWeissPBP (play-by-play for SA)