Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. Milwaukee Admirals

Texas Stars 10-9-1-1, 22 pts #6 Central Division

v.

Milwaukee Admirals 14-7-3-0, 31 pts #2 Central Division

December 5th at 7:00 PM

H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, Cedar Park, TX

Erik Condra has gone ballistic.
(credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

The Texas Stars are coming off a 7-4 shellacking of the Chicago Wolves on Sunday evening, a game in which several players stood out. The most prominent was clearly winger Erik Condra, he of the five point game which gave him league-wide notice in the form of an AHL player of the week award.

One major positive to take away from Condra's recent play beyond the five point outing is the consistency with which he is scoring. The Chicago game gave him an eight-game point streak, meaning Texas is getting steady contributions from players other than Justin Dowling, Travis Morin, and Denis Gurianov. That bodes well for a team primed to push up the standings. If Condra maintains his lead in team scoring throughout the season, it will have been an unexpected but welcome story to celebrate.

That consistent scoring will certainly come in handy against the defensive-minded Milwaukee Admirals. The two teams met recently on November 30th with the Stars coming out on top 4-1. In that game, Adam Mascherin pitched in with two goals to go with tallies from Condra and Joel L'Esperance. The Stars befuddled Ads netminder Troy Grosenick in that game. It's a safe bet he'll make it tougher on them this time should he get the start.

Another interesting matchup will be on special teams. The potent power play (2nd in AHL) for the Stars should get some opportunities at home against the third ranked penalty kill for Milwaukee. Last time, the Stars got the better end of that exchange, going 1-for-2 on the man advantage.

The puck drops at 7:00 PM CST.

Stars injury/call up report:
Scarlett (season-ending ACL injury)
Bayreuther, Hanley, Fedun, Hintz (call up)