Stars at Canucks
There's nothing comfortable about the Vancouver Canucks' lead over the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames in the race for second place in the tight Pacific Division. Saturday's opponent likely won't ease Canucks fans' worries, as Vancouver hosts the Dallas Stars at Rogers Arena. The Canucks have lost six consecutive games against the Stars, who have outscored Vancouver by a ridiculous 25-7 margin over the length of the winning streak.
For a team gearing up for home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks looked lamentably flat in their previous game, a 4-1 home defeat at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. "It's unacceptable," defenseman Luca Sbisa said afterward. "We knew how important this game was." The Stars might be feeling the same way, as they saw their four-game winning streak halted in a costly 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS-SW (Dallas), CBC (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE STARS (36-29-10): Dallas players knew coming into Friday night's game against the Oilers that it would probably need to win out in order to have any shot of reaching the Western Conference playoffs. Not only will the Stars fail to accomplish that feat, they'll lament not being able to beat one of the league's worst teams. With Dallas now effectively playing out the string, the only notable storyline left is whether one of either captain Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin can rack up enough points in the final seven games to win the scoring title.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (43-27-4): Sbisa was even more revealing when pressed about how Vancouver could come out so flat in an important game against a weaker opponent. "You don't want to admit, but it's a mental thing," he told the Vancouver Province. "We had some really good games against L.A., Phoenix and Winnipeg. Those were some big, emotional wins, and then you're like, 'Tonight is not that big a game.'" Vancouver has lost just four games in regulation all month (8-4-1), but all four losses have come by three or more goals.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver's last win over Dallas came on Feb. 21, 2013.
2. Two of the Stars' three shutout losses on the season have come in March.
3. Canucks scoring leader Daniel Sedin has 33 points in 46 career games vs. Dallas.