Gameday Preview: Stars v. Lake Erie Monsters

Texas Stars
43-17-3-6, 95 pts
#1 Western Conference
v.Lake Erie Monsters
29-29-0-9, 67 pts
#12 Western Conference
April 4th at 7:30 PM
Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX

The Texas Stars put their franchise-record seven game win streak on the line against the Lake Erie Monsters tonight in Cedar Park. If that pressure wasn't enough, the NHL's greatest American-born scorer will be in attendance to drop the puck. Former Dallas Star Mike Modano was last at the Cedar Park Center in September 2009. The Texas Stars faced off against the Dallas Stars in a pre-season exhibition that also featured names like Jere Lehtinen, Marty Turco, Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro.

After that spectacle, Texas will take on Lake Erie. The Stars and Monsters last faced off in back-to-back sets in Cleveland at the end of February. After those games, Lake Erie has improved their standings from 15th in the conference to 12th with a 6-4-0-4 effort. Texas is 10-1-0-0 since their shootout loss to the Monsters. Their only loss was March 12th against Charlotte.

Some new additions will be in the Stars' lineup possibly tonight. This week, Texas added Radek Faksa, Alex Guptill and John Klingberg. In practice yesterday, Faksa centered a line between Matej Stransky and Kevin Henderson. Guptill got an audition on the top line with Curtis McKenzie and Travis Morin. Klingberg was not in practice and will probably not play. Taylor Vause and Derek Hulak looked to be the off men out. It also seems likely that Chris Mueller will be out of the lineup for Texas on recall to Dallas. Ray Whitney was injured earlier last night against Carolina.

On defense, the Stars will probably keep Hubert Labrie in from the last game's lineup and add Cameron Gaunce, who was getting a game off. Patrik Nemeth looks to remain in Dallas for the time being.

Here's my best guess:
McKenzie-Morin-Guptill
Hedden-Dowling-Ritchie
Ranford-Peters-Glennie
Stransky-Faksa-Henderson

Meech-Oleksiak
Fortunus-Labrie
Gaunce-Jokipakka
Stars injury/call up report:
Petersen (injured)

Website: lakeeriemonsters.com
Blog (unofficial): Cleveland Plain Dealer
Twitter: @monstershockey

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