Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. San Diego Gulls

Texas Stars
15-11-1-1, 32 pts, 0.571
#5 Pacific Division
v.San Diego Gulls
11-11-2-1, 25 pts, 0.500
#6 Pacific Division
December 29th at 7:30 PM
H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, Cedar Park, TX

Luckily, Texas will have a little bit more breathing room with Jason Dickinson having returned to the lineup yesterday. The Stars iced just 17 skaters on Tuesday against San Antonio. Despite that, they played close with the Rampage until the end. With Dickinson in the lineup (14 pts in 19 GP), that's an excellent 18th skater to gain.

The Stars have played the Gulls already this season, dropping that contest 5-4 in southern California. The Gulls sit just below Texas in the standings, but the margin is not close. Texas is four games above .500, which is where San Diego finds itself. The Gulls were five games above .500 very recently but have dropped seven straight (0-5-1-1) to fall precipitously in the standings. It's the first time the Stars have played San Diego at home since the Gulls eliminated Texas in the playoffs last year.

For Texas, will the reign of Landon Bow continue? With a day between each game this week and five days off before the first game next week, it's reasonable to say that Bow would be in the net each game. While not stellar on a league-wide basis, Bow's stats are the best of any goalie the Stars have had this season.

Stars injury/call up report:
Backman, Werek, Ully (injury)
Gurianov (World Juniors)
Stevenson, Bystrom (questionable)

Gulls Web Resources:
Website: sandiegogulls.com
Twitter: @SDGullsAHL
Twitter: @619sports (PBP)
Twitter: @danarelAHL

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