Calgary Flames vs Dallas Stars game preview

A couple days off, a new contract for the head coach, and the Calgary Flames should be ready to get back at it. That's what we're hoping for, at least, because they're currently riding a six-game losing streak, and must be anxious to break out of it as the holidays approach. Tonight they're hosting the seemingly underachieving Dallas Stars, who have been winning a bit as of late. The two are starting to pull closer together in the Western Conference standings.

When we last saw the Flames, they gave up a couple of terrible goals against the New York Rangers as Rick Nash, Chris Kreider, and Derek Stepan got the jump on them. Jiri Hudler and Curtis Glencross got the Flames on the board, but it was a bit too late for them as Henrik Lundqvist and his group were able to hold off the hard-pressing group. | Recap | Stats recap | Boxscore | They did try:

As for the Stars, they've only played twice in the last week, but they've won both games. First, they beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3, fending off a last-minute Devils pushback. Most recently, Colton Sceviour scored the game-winning goal and Kari Lehtonen stopped 27 shots as the Stars shutout the Vancouver Canucks in a 2-0 victory. It was their second shutout of the season.

For more on the Stars, be sure to check out Defending Big D and our upcoming Q&A with them!

Game time: 7:00 p.m. MT

Channel: SNW

All-time record: The all-time Flames franchise combines for a 72-61-25-6 record against the all-time Stars franchise. This includes a goal differential of just +4, which isn't really a lot. So historically, things have been mostly close between these two.

Common threads: Well, before the Flames drafted Sean Monahan, they were rumoured to possibly be dealing their 2013 sixth overall pick, along with Johnny Gaudreau, for Tyler Seguin. The Stars ended up with the NHL's current leading scorer instead, and I think we're all rather happy to have retained Monahan and Gaudreau, so...  good job, everyone, we made it out of that situation A-OK.

Approaching milestones: Jiri Hudler remains at 198 assists. He could still get 200 tonight, but that would involve his teammates scoring goals, and not him and his very high shooting percentage.

Current records and leaders

Possible starting lineups

Despite the losing streak, the Flames seem content to run the roster they have the past few games, albeit swapping the starting goalies. It's pretty much the best personnel they can put out at the moment, so no objections here. They'll pull themselves out of it sooner or later.