@
4-5-1 .9 p/g		4-3-2, 1.1 p/g
Western Conf: 12th		Western Conf: 7th

Top Story: The Stars and the Oilers are the worst defensive teams in the league by far, evidenced by their 29th and 30th rankings in shots against. The Stars have given up an average of 33.8 shots per game, while the Oilers have given up 34.4 shots per game. Kari Lehtonen, Richard Bachman and Devan Dubnyk are hanging in there, the former stopped 92 of 99 shots in the last three games, the latter stopped 110 of 117 shots in his last three. Expect a boatload of shots in this game.

The Oilers are saying:

"It really is a difficult game when you're playing a top team and starting by puck retrieval all the time."

--Ralph Krueger, on the Oilers faceoff woes.

The Opponent is saying:

Certainly you don't want a crutch. We needed to put more pucks and bodies toward the net when we didn't have our guys [Roy and Benn] in. But getting Derek Roy back makes the opposition now...when you've got Benn and you've got Derek in your lineup first time together, it puts a little different spin for other coaches and other teams and how they're going to play you. if they tie up one it can free up the other.

--Glen Gulutzan, talks about the Stars' centre depth.

Key matchup: Jamie Benn, Derek Roy, Cody Eakin, Vern Fiddler vs. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, Mark Arcobello, Anton Lander. The Oilers depth down the middle was already a defensive nightmare, now it's a faceoff nightmare, a penalty killing nightmare and an even strength matchup nightmare. Ralph Krueger hasn't really cared about matchups thus far and it's come back to bite him a number of times. If he wants to have a chance at even strength, someone on the bench is going to have to pay careful attention to which forwards are going over the boards and when.