Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. Bakersfield Condors

           Texas Stars                     Bakersfield Condors
  18-13-3-1, 40 pts, .571      v.     13-13-5-0, 31 pts, .500
#4 Pacific Division                    #8 Pacific Division

January 5th at 7:30 PM CST
H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, Cedar Park, TX

(Credit Texas Stars)
UPDATE: Jason Dickinson has been reassigned to the Texas Stars. He is not expected to play tonight.

A game against a last place divisional foe is a good opportunity for the Texas Stars to clean their wounds that inevitably occur as a result of losing four straight. On Friday evening, the Texas Stars will square off against the Bakersfield Condors--a team they defeated the last time they played in Cedar Park on grounds of an overtime goal from Sheldon Dries. The Stars would do well to avoid unnecessary penalties, which dismantled them on Wednesday evening against the San Diego Gulls as they gave up three power play goals. It was enough to drop them to dead last in ranking on the penalty kill.

AHL All-Star Ty Rattie leads the Condors with 22 points and five power play goals. Their power play sits at the middle of the pack at 17, but the Stars can perhaps make some hay against their 23rd ranked penalty kill unit. Goaltenders Eddie Pasquale and Nick Ellis have basically split time in the net evenly, and it's unclear who will draw the start. Bakersfield is coming off a 4-0 waxing of the Rampage in San Antonio on Wednesday.

The good news for the Stars is that they did get some measure of reinforcements in Wednesday's game. Brent Regner, Justin Dowling, and Nicklas Hansson were all healthy enough to play. They will have to continue to heal as it appears that Jason Dickinson will be up in Dallas indefinitely as a few of their forwards are on the mend. Texas's third leading scorer Brian Flynn (21 points) is out with an injury, but he could be back tonight, if Coach Laxdal's hopeful prediction from Wednesday comes true. Stars captain Curtis McKenzie was also named an All-Star himself, and he will have to carry the pail and live up to his billing if the Stars are going to get their once promising season back on track.

Stars injury/call up report:
Dickinson (call up)
Flynn (injury)

Condors Web Resources:
Blog (official): Inside the Condors
Twitter: @Condors
Twitter: @CondorsHolty (PBP)

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