Gameday Preview: Texas Stars at Milwaukee Admirals

Texas Stars 8-8-1-1, 18 pts #7 Central Division

at

Milwaukee Admirals 13-6-3-0, 29 pts #1 Central Division

November 30th at 7:00 PM

UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Milwaukee, WI

(credit: Milwaukee Admirals)

A second stretch of three games in three nights awaits the Texas Stars this weekend--this time in the Midwest. Friday's game is against the Central division-leading Milwaukee Admirals, now coached by former Stars assistant Karl Taylor.

The Admirals banked enough points in the first couple weeks of the season to withstand a recent stretch of .500 play and still maintain their tenuous hold on first place. One interesting statistic suggests that the Ads are due for a regression: 9 of their 13 wins have been by one goal, including a 4-3 OT victory over Texas on October 6. They are getting by with balanced scoring, as no singular player pops from the score sheet at the moment.

On the other hand, there is data that suggests the Ads are for real and have some real staying power. They are winning with an elite penalty kill, ranked second in the AHL, and rock solid goaltending from Troy Grosenick (.924 SP) and Tom McCollum (.900 SP). It's as strong of a tandem of tenders that you'll find in the AHL.

Speaking of which, the Stars are getting some help in that department. Landon Bow has be reassigned to Texas after a lengthy road trip with Dallas due to Ben Bishop's injury. Bow barely got any burn during the trip, only third period relief duty in a blowout loss to the Penguins, so he should be good to go for at least a couple starts over the weekend. After a tough weekend series against the San Antonio Rampage in which the Stars only secured two points, they will be looking for a better result, beginning with Milwaukee.

The puck drops at 7:00 PM CST.

Stars injury/call up report:
Gleason (questionable; undisclosed)
Scarlett (season-ending ACL injury)
Mersch (lower body)
Bayreuther, Hanley, Fedun, Hintz (call up)