Game Day No. 39

The Bucks are a few hours away from a big opportunity to move up in the Southern Conference standings and prove that they are capable of playing well consistently, not just when they feel like doing so.

The Texas Brahmas (20-15-5, 45 points) enter the LEC two points ahead of the Bucks (18-13-7, 43 points) for third place in the conference, and if the Bucks win tonight, they'll be tied for that spot with two games in hand on the Brahmas.

Last time the Bucks had a chance to tie the Brahmas in the standings was before their first meeting this season, which the Bucks went on to lose 2-0 at the LEC. It's worth noting that was only one of six road wins for the Brahmas this season.

The Bucks won the teams' most recent meeting, on Jan. 3, 4-3.

As you can probably tell by reading the quotes I've posted, everyone sees this weekend as a really big one, and it all starts with tonight.

You can read more about the matchup in my preview, Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes.

Getting Maxime Lincourt's shot back in the lineup could be a big asset for the Bucks if his line can click, which seems inevitable if Darryl Smith keeps playing at the pace he did last week and Jeff Bes keeps setting his linemates up the way he normally does.

Lincourt will start on that top line with Bes and Smith, but, as noted yesterday, Coach Ruskowski said that could change depending on how things work out early in the game.

Special teams are always a concern, and they did seem to be the area Ruskowski most wanted to see improve, so we'll see how the Bucks do tonight against a power play that ranks 11th in the league at 13.28 percent and penalty kill that ranks sixth, just behind their own, at 84.82 percent.

The Bucks have an 84.83 percent kill rate, ranking fifth, and are third on the power play at 21.30 percent.

Kevin Desfosses will be in goal for the Bucks, and they will be taking their shots on either Brett Jaeger or Joe Palmer.

Though tonight obviously needs to be the focus right now, I'm sure everyone can't help but think of the two other games this weekend, which will pit the Bucks against Kevin Nastiuk-less IceRays for the first time this season and against the league's top team in the Odessa Jackalopes for the first time since a shocking 6-1 win on Dec. 5, 2009.

The Bucks are 1-1-0 against the Brahmas and 1-0-1 against the Jackalopes (32-6-3, 67 points) this season, and 3-6-1 against the IceRays, having faced Nastiuk in all but the first of their previous meetings, the two most recent of which were shutout losses.

The only time the Bucks saw Desfosses as an opponent was when he replaced Nastiuk late in a 6-3 win for the Bucks on Nov. 29.

But anyway, I'll be live blogging tonight's game, and you can also follow it on Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

Oh, and Bucky is still on the roof, and has been joined by Bucks majority owner Glenn Hart, as they attempt to sell the last tickets for tonight's "Pink in the Rink" game.