Gameday Preview: Stars v. Milwaukee Admirals, Game 3

Texas Stars
43-22-5-6, 97 pts
#1 Western Conference
v.Milwaukee Admirals
41-28-4-3, 89 pts
#8 Western Conference
Series tied 1-1

May 1st at 7:30 PM
Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX

Texas clears the slate of callups tonight and has a heck of a lot to juggle on the lineups with three new additions. Milwaukee is similarly 'disadvantaged' with six new bodies in the lineup. Unfortunately, those six made up 63 of Milwaukee’s 197 regular season goals.

As the numbers show, the Stars have not had a lot of success recently on the home front. The Stars haven't won in Cedar Park since a victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on March 30th. The entire month of April was winless for Texas at home. Meanwhile, Milwaukee hasn't lost on the road since April 2nd. Their next most recent road loss before that? February 26th. Something has got to give for Texas to win this series.

It looks like the lineups for tonight will feature a top nine that looks more like a top six. Here are the first three lines as seen in practice this week:

Fraser-Morin-Sceviour
Hedden-Dowling-Chiasson
R. Smith-Glennie/Vause-Ritchie

I would add on Gazdic-Petersen-Wathier to that combination. That leaves your scratches as Sonne, McKenzie, Cameron, Faksa, Todd and either Glennie or Vause.

On defense, Jordie Benn has to be in. There was a lot of success in the early season with Oleksiak and Benn together. Connauton and Gaunce were a good pair since the trade deadline, and Fortunus and Morrow have had some pairings together since then as well. That gives:

Benn-Oleksiak
Fortunus-Morrow
Connauton-Gaunce

Scratches: Sloan, Wrenn, Jokipakka, Commodore, Klingberg, Nemeth (injury).

It seems about right.

Also adding to the pressure tonight will be Jim Nill's visit to the Cedar Park Center. Former Texas Stars Brenden Dillon and Antoine Roussel won't be among those making a sojourn to Central Texas though as both leave today to represent their countries in the World Championships.

Stars injury/call up report:
Nemeth (injury)

Admirals Web Resources:
Website: milwaukeeadmirals.com
Blog (Official): In The Crease
Blog (Unofficial): Admirals Roundtable (@adsroundtable)
Twitter: @mkeadmirals

Comments

  1. Not encouraging news, especially given their drubbing in Milwaukee on Saturday. They'd better figure something out NOW or they're going to be golfing next week. (Team Mom)

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  2. Funny you mention the amount of goals the guys returned to the Admirals had. Four of our guys(counting Fraser too) had 67. Basically take Benn out of the equation and we are getting back three scoring machines. Hopefully they don't have any rust and hit the ice in top form. This could be the toughest series until the Finals considering they got back 7 guys (one was a add after the original six). Every game is huge needless to say.

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    Replies
    1. Very good point, Carl. I guess my point was that these guys from the Ads are no slouches either. Texas fans know about Smith and Chiasson. However, they ar emore concentrated. Is that an advantage? We'll see.

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  3. Our best line on the power play couldn't score on Friday night. That doesn't bode well. If Fraser, Morin, and Sceviour have trouble on the PP, we're in trouble against this team! Once we get past Milwaukee, we should have an easier time until the finals, but first we have to put away the Ads. (Team Mom)

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  4. I know it's sacrilegious to say it but I'm not to sure Texas put that much effort into Saturday, I kind of felt like they thought they got a road win and they could lay back a little, Willie playing the true rookie for his first game wasn't a "must win" move. I'm trying not to judge to much on Saturdays game because if that.

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