| Texas Stars 30-36-2-2, 64 pts #15 Western Conference | at | Grand Rapids Griffins 31-28-6-4, 72 pts #13 Western Conference |
April 4th at 6:00 PM
Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI
The Stars' last true road trip of the season sends them to Michigan and Illinois on back-to-back nights to close out two season series. The first will be with the Grand Rapids Griffins this evening in Van Andel Arena.
The Griffins appeared to be on a rocket to playoff contention in late February, rattling off five straight wins. A shutout loss in Hamilton started a 6-7-1 streak up to now. Any playoff hopes evaporated for the Griffins with that streak.
Goalie journeyman Ty Conklin is out in Grand Rapids, recalled to Detroit shortly after playing a two game set in Texas in early March. Tom McCollum is the man right now in net for the Griffins, starting the last seven games but carrying a 3.48 GAA and .893 SV% on the season.
There is no reason to expect anyone other than Jack Campbell to lead Texas out onto the ice this evening and most evenings for the rest of the season other than the final weekend three-in-three.
With Jordie Benn back in the lineup for Texas, expect at least one of the Stars defensemen to sit, if not two. Coach Pyle has rolled seven blue liners for the past few games. Hubert Labrie is the only defenseman from Texas on the Idaho Steelheads' playoff roster. It is possible that they could assign Labrie for the Steelheads' playoff race and skate either six or seven. Some ice would certainly be more valuable than sitting in the press box.
Stars injury/call up report:
Vincour (callup)
Schultz, Tousignant, Vause (injury)
Website: griffinshockey.com
Twitter: @GriffinsHockey
Blog: Griffins Hockey on MLive.com
Texas is done, Idaho will go deep with goaltending, defense and timely scoring. Labrie and any other youngster on that squad would benefit from playoff hockey, especially where they could play BIG roles on an Idaho squad that has won two Kelly Cups already..Schultz would have been given an unbelievable opportunity to be a key cog in the run, Labrie, the same..Leggo Whitey!!
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