Gameday Preview: Texas Stars at San Antonio Rampage

           Texas Stars                         San Antonio Rampage

    24-16-4-2, 54 pts, .587      at      23-17-4-0, 50 pts, .568

#2 Pacific Division                       #4 Pacific Division

February 2nd at 7:30 PM
AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

(credit: Texas Stars)

Now is the time for the Texas Stars to find their stride and continue to jostle for playoff positioning, and the team knows it as they match up against the San Antonio Rampage on Friday evening. Playing in their first game after the AHL All Star break, they ought to be well-rested seeing as they didn't send any players to the event with All Star selection Curtis McKenzie nursing an injury.

Though they had the reinforcements of current NHL players Jason Dickinson, Julius Honka, and Dillon Heatherington in the last game before the break, the Stars pulled out the victory over the Stockton Heat by relying on secondary scoring. Four different players scored goals for the Stars in that game, and all of them will be critical in this upcoming stretch as Heatherington and Dickinson might not be back for a while, if at all.

The Rampage, 4-4-2-0 in their last 10 games, sense an opportunity of their own to get back into the mix for the top of the Pacific division as they are only four points behind the Stars in the standings. They have dominated the Stars this season with a 7-1-0-0 record. 

Their roster has been a little picked over, with the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues needing a boost, but the Blues did just assign Oskar Sundqvist to the AHL squad. Andrew Agozzino (24 points), Rocco Grimaldi (23 points), and Samuel Blais (1.10 ppg) are the ones that carry the pail for the Rampage, and they will be available.

The puck drops at 7:30 PM CST.

Stars injury/call up report:

Dickinson, Heatherington (call-up)

Rampage Web Resources
Website: sarampage.com
Blog (unofficial): Runnin' With the Herd
Twitter: @SARampage
Twitter: @DanWeissPBP (play-by-play for SA)