No personnel changes expected as Stars face Capitals

The Dallas Stars kick off a key part of their schedule tonight when they take on the Washington Capitals at American Airlines Center.

Tuesday's tilt with Washington opens a three-game homestand that will take the Stars into the NHL's Christmas break and begins a stretch that will see the Stars play nine of their next 10 games at home. With the Stars in a group of several teams bunched up around the final two wild-card spots in the Western Conference, these are important points.
"It's nice to be home here, and we've got an important stretch of games here where we've got to make some hay, get a lot of wins, get some points," said Stars captain Jamie Benn. "And we start against a very good team tonight."
The Capitals come to town on a roll. They have won seven of their last eight games and are 10-2-0 in their last 12.

"Washington is playing, quite frankly, as well as anybody in the league right now or maybe even better than most," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "That's a big test for us."
Ben Bishop will get the start in goal for the Stars. He's coming off a 28-save effort in Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss to Philadelphia. Bishop is 13-9-1 with a 2.71 goals against average and .910 save percentage.
The Stars held an optional skate this morning, so they did not run line rushes or defense pairs. It's expected that Hitchcock will go with the same six defensemen as last game and use the same pairings. Hitchcock juggled his lines in Monday's practice, so we'll have to wait until warm-ups tonight to see what he rolls out then, but Brett Ritchie is the expected scratch.

Methot update

Stars defenseman Marc Methot, who underwent knee surgery on Nov. 20, skated before this morning's optional skate at American Airlines Center. Hitchcock provided the latest on when Methot might return to the lineup:
"He went 30 minutes today and moving on as we see fit," Hitchcock said. "We're hopeful that he gets in that game in before Christmas against Nashville, but we are not 100 percent. He's moving along, and we're making progress. He's getting closer and closer."

Capitals Watch

Braden Holtby is expected to get the start in goal tonight for Washington. Holtby is 19-7-0 with a 2.63 goals against average and .919 save percentage. Right wing T.J. Oshie is expected to return to the lineup after missing the last six games due to a concussion. Washington, which is coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Ducks on Saturday, is on a three-game winning streak.

Tonight's Game

Who: Washington Capitals at Dallas Stars
Where: American Airlines Center
When: 7:30 p.m.
TV:Fox Sports Southwest
Radio:The Ticket 1310-AM, 96.7-FM

Stars Projected Lineup

Remi Elie - Jamie Benn - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Tyler Seguin - Devin Shore
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Gemel Smith - Martin Hanzal - Jason Spezza
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns - Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Brett Ritchie
Injured:Marc Methot (knee)

Capitals Projected Lineup

Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly - Lars Eller - Andre Burakovsky
Chandler Stephenson - Jay Beagle - Alex Chiasson
Dmitry Orlov - Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik - John Carlson
Christian Djoos - Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Devante Smith-Pelley; Taylor Chorney
Injured:None
Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @StarsInsideEdge.