| Texas Stars 21-15-3-3, 48 pts #3 Pacific Division | v. | San Diego Gulls 18-16-1-1, 38 pts #5 Pacific Division |
January 22nd at 7:30 PM
Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX
UPDATE: Branden Troock was assigned to the Idaho Steelheads this morning.
Divisional rivals San Diego come back to the Cedar Park Center for two games this weekend. It will be just their second visit to the Lone Star State.
San Diego enters tonight's game on two days rest, having beaten San Antonio 2-1 on the 19th. The Gulls' scoresheet looks a little bizarre as they won 2-1 but Dustin Tokarski got the win with 32 saves on 32 shots. Injury is the culprit. Matt Hackett had to relieve Tokarski after he was injured early in the third.
Help comes from above not below for SD. The Ducks assigned Anton Khudobin, who was the goalie of record in the Stars' 6-1 throttling of the Gulls on New Year's Eve. Khudobin has split time between the NHL and AHL this year. His AHL stats are pretty average at 4-4-1 with .911 SV% and 2.60 GAA. With all the shuffling between trades and injuries and the Ducks' goalie situation with Andersen and Gibson, a total of six goalies have manned the pipes this year.
Texas is starting to build a cushion between themselves and the fourth place Condors. They are separated by 0.042 points, a significant margin. The Condors would need a four-game winning streak to surpass Texas immediately. They've yet to do that all year.
On the Stars side, it's possible that many could be returning from injury. According to Sean Shapiro, forward Branden Troock and defensemen Stephen Johns and Jesse Blacker all practiced this week and could play this weekend. Texas is currently swimming in defensemen as precautionary measures. Jamie Oleksiak is down from Dallas and Zack Kamrass is up from Idaho.
Stars injury/call up report:
Lindell (callup)
Johns,
Dowling (injury, lower body)
Shore (out, surgery)
Gulls Web Resources:
Website: sandiegogulls.com
Twitter: @SDGullsAHL
Twitter: @619sports (PBP)
Twitter: @danarelAHL
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