Pre-game notes (12): Back in the USA, the Stars want to get back on their feet against the Blackhawks

The Dallas Stars are back in Tampere, Finland for the NHL's Global Series after two disappointing losses to the Florida Panthers and play a short home game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The stars have had the last four days off after returning to Texas to readjust and get rid of jet lag after their long trips. It also gave the team the time they needed to refocus, put the two Finland games behind them and prepare for a busy period over the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month.

Related: Stars are facing real adversity for the first time this year and are now returning from Finland to right their ship

Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks are back in Dallas on the second night of back-to-back meetings, just like their last meeting on October 26th. Interestingly, Dallas ends its Global Series play with two games at home against the Hawks.

After last night's 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago sits in second-to-last place in the Central Division at 5-8-1, ahead of only the Nashville Predators. Nick Foligno was the lone scorer for Chicago, scoring his fifth goal of the season. Petr Mrazek played in goal for the Hawks last night, but played in the previous back-to-back game in Dallas because Arvin Soderblom was ill. Mrazek managed 21 stops on 24 shots.

Head coach Pete DeBoer said he expects tonight's game against the Blackhawks to be sloppy, but still expects the Stars to get back on the winning list. In DeBoer's tenure with the Stars, they have never lost three straight regular season games. One of the team's greatest strengths was its ability to be resilient and bounce back from defeat.

What you should pay attention to:

• Thomas Harley has four points in his last five games – one goal and three assists. He also leads all Stars defensemen with six points. The Stars blueliners got off to a slow start offensively, so Harley's recent push is a good sign that things are moving in the right direction.

• The Stars are still trying to get the combinations of Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Logan Stankoven, Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov going. DeBoer tried a number of different combinations to not only make the lines click, but also to bring out the best (or at least consistent) performance from certain players. Johnston has had a very slow start this season and the Stars are looking for him to get going, but he also got off to a slow start last season. Expect these players to continue to be used until something works that DeBoer likes.

Projected lines:

Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven
Bourque-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Steel Back Blackwell

Dumba Heiskanen
Harley Lybushkin
Lindell-Lundkvist

Oettinger
DeSmith

There are a few game-time decisions to be made tonight as the team continues to battle some minor but nagging injuries. Mason Marchment is out and was listed as a day-to-day following his fight with Nate Schmidt in Finland.

The Stars are hoping to bounce back against the Blackhawks and could really use the points, not only to bounce back from their two losses, but also because they next travel to Canada to face the Winnipeg Jets play. The Jets are off to a very strong start and have only lost once in 13 games so far.

Puck Drop will take place at 7:00 p.m. CDT and can be viewed on Victory+ locally and ESPN+ in out-of-market areas.

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Facing real adversity for the first time this year, the stars return from Finland to right their ship

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