Vancouver continues road show in Dallas

After being force fed a slice of humble pie at the hands of the Phoenix Coyotes in the form of a 5-1 defeat last Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks will resume their NHL season tonight in Dallas against the hungry Stars.

Vancouver was coming off of their 11th consecutive home ice win last week prior to entering the desert to face the Coyotes. It’s funny how things work in Vancouver, as the 11 wins at row at home are now a distant memory.

Dallas will need their goaltender, Marty Turco, to outplay the opponent’s goaltender in each of their remaining 10 games if they wish to make the big dance. Tonight, in a play off atmosphere, he will renew his rivalry with Canuck Captain Roberto Luongo, which began in the 2007 first round matchup between their two respective teams. For those of you who need a refresher, Vancouver prevailed in 7 games, and home ice advantage was probably the difference maker. Turco had 3 shutouts in that series, and he still lost. Imagine the pressure, let a goal in and you lose….

If the Stars want to win tonight, they should take advantage of the Canucks lack of discipline. Vancouver has given up the third most power-play chances in the league this year at 330. If Vancouver managed to learn anything from their game in Phoenix, it was probably to stay out of the box. Even with some key injuries, Dallas still has a lot of “Star” power (no pun intended).

Vancouver though, has been playing some amazing hockey of late, even if the fans are only focused on last Saturday evening. They are 16-4-1 in their last 21 games, and as recent as last Tuesday, they beat these same Stars 4-2 at GM Place.

Dallas is 2-1-0 against the Canucks so far this season and they are 8-1-0 against Vancouver in the last 9 matchups at the American Airlines Center.

Both teams are coming off of losses on Saturday,as the Stars lost to the San Jose Sharks 5-2, so it should be an interesting game.