Gameday Preview: Texas Stars at San Antonio Rampage

Texas Stars 25-17-3-3, 56 pts, 0.583 #2 Pacific Division

at

San Antonio Rampage 19-20-7-0, 45 pts, 0.489 #7 Pacific Division

February 5th at 7:30 PM

AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

UPDATE: Radek Faksa has been recalled to the Dallas Stars.

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

The San Antonio Rampage reached the All-Star Break with a resounding thud. After building up an 11-3-6 record at the end of November, they've compiled an 8-17-1 record since. They've had separate seven- and four-game losing streaks during that time and still face the uphill battle that is the Rodeo Road Trip.

So it's been a tough few months in San Antonio.

Injuries are a huge reason why, both in Texas and in Colorado. Calvin Pickard, who was part of that big win total at the start of the year, hasn't played a decision in San Antonio since before Christmas. Of course, he was the goalie of record for all seven of the losses in that aforementioned streak, so perhaps that's something of a non-factor. Pickard has been in Colorado thanks to injuries to the Avalanche.

Rampage up to 98 man games lost due to injury upon return from ASG. Number jumps to 128 if you were to include Ben Street.

— Dan Weiss (@DanWeissPBP) February 4, 2016

His next tweet noted that Andrew Agozzino was the only non-participant in practice yesterday afternoon. With players coming back, San Antonio could be ready to go on a run with fresh legs. The team will face their hardest test of the year with the always nasty rodeo road trip putting them out for the rest of the month. Tonight's game is the only Rampage home game in the month of February.

On the Texas side of the ledger, things aren't too rosy either on the injury front. Of course, Devin Shore has been out for a while and is done for the season after his surgery. Justin Dowling has been out for several weeks now along with Jesse Blacker. Maxime Lagace is probable for tonight, but could still be held out for precautionary reasons. And finally, the Stars' leading goal scorer, Greg Rallo, was injured in a slew-footing incident in Lake Erie a week ago. Jaime Sifers was suspended two games for the incident, which wasn't called on the ice. The good news is that Rallo could be back for tomorrow's game in Cedar Park.

Stars injury/call up report:
Faksa (call up)
Rallo, Shore, Dowling, Blacker (injury)

Website: sarampage.com
Blog (unofficial): Rampage with Tony U.
Blog (unofficial): Runnin' With The Herd
Twitter: @SARampage
Twitter: @DanWeissPBP (play-by-play for SA)