Texas-Sized Saturday: Florida Panthers @ Dallas Stars ... Craig Anderson IN

DALLAS -- Panthers got a big one on tap tonight as they made a rare visit to the Metroplex.

Went driving around today, and honestly, I have never seen so many pickup trucks/SUVs in my life.

Everyone here either drives a Ford F150, a Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra or a Expedition/Escalade/Tahoe.

Felt a little small tooling around in my Saturn Aura. But it has XM Radio, so whatever.

And that Texas state flag is in front of every single building here. Lots of pride here in the Nutmeg State.

-- Pete DeBoer says everything staying the same tonight, with Craig Anderson getting a second straight start. ''It's all about wins,'' DeBo says.

-- Panthers go into tonight trailing Montreal Expos by two points. Darn Andre Dawson.

-- Friday's Games (and how they affected the Panthers): Buffalo pulls back to within three points of Panthers with a win over Toronto. Leafs trailed 4-0 but made it a game, only to fall short.

-- Saturday's Games (and who the Panthers would be rooting for if they weren't so busy taking a tour of the Mavericks plush locker room with Mark Cuban)

Pens 4, Rangers 3: Pittsburgh gets a late goal and wins in regulation. Good news for the Panthers. Rangers still within sight and a brutal schedule upcoming.

Sabres @ Canadiens, 7: Hockey Night in Canada brings a big game for the Panthers. Guess you could call it huge. Florida would like to see Sabres win third straight, and do so in regulation please.

Panthers @ Stars, 8: Panthers hope Cowboys star Terrell Owens shows up to watch tonight's game. What's that you say?

-- The Standings (brought to you by Southfork Ranch and courtesy of TSN.ca/nhl; includes Saturday's early game)

Eastern
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	y-Boston	73	46	17	10	102	243	171	25-6-6	21-11-4	4-5-1	Won 1
2	x-Washington	76	46	23	7	99	245	222	27-9-2	19-14-5	6-2-2	Won 1
3	x-New Jersey	74	47	23	4	98	227	184	26-10-1	21-13-3	5-4-1	Lost 3
4	Philadelphia	73	40	23	10	90	235	210	22-11-4	18-12-6	6-4-0	Lost 1
5	Pittsburgh	76	41	27	8	90	239	225	23-13-3	18-14-5	7-1-2	Won 2
6	Carolina	76	41	28	7	89	218	213	23-13-1	18-15-6	7-1-2	Won 5
7	NY Rangers	76	39	28	9	87	196	208	23-11-4	16-17-5	5-4-1	Lost 2
8	Montreal	74	38	27	9	85	223	225	23-8-6	15-19-3	4-4-2	Won 2
9	Florida	75	36	28	11	83	207	213	19-11-7	17-17-4	3-4-3	Won 1
10	Buffalo	74	36	30	8	80	222	214	22-13-3	14-17-5	4-5-1	Won 2
11	Toronto	75	31	31	13	75	225	264	14-13-9	17-18-4	5-5-0	Lost 1
12	Ottawa	73	32	31	10	74	194	209	20-12-6	12-19-4	8-2-0	Lost 1
13	Atlanta	75	31	38	6	68	231	259	15-19-2	16-19-4	7-3-0	Won 1
14	Tampa Bay	75	24	34	17	65	196	249	12-15-11	12-19-6	3-3-4	Lost 2
15	NY Islanders	74	25	41	8	58	186	240	16-15-5	9-26-3	5-4-1	Won 1
Western
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	y-San Jose	74	48	15	11	107	240	185	30-3-4	18-12-7	6-3-1	Lost 2
2	x-Detroit	75	49	17	9	107	276	221	26-6-4	23-11-5	6-3-1	Lost 1
3	Calgary	74	42	26	6	90	238	228	24-9-4	18-17-2	3-7-0	Lost 2
4	Chicago	73	40	22	11	91	242	198	21-8-7	19-14-4	4-4-2	Won 3
5	Vancouver	74	40	25	9	89	225	203	22-11-4	18-14-5	6-3-1	Won 1
6	Columbus	74	39	28	7	85	207	202	24-11-2	15-17-5	7-2-1	Won 1
7	Edmonton	75	36	30	9	81	216	228	16-13-6	20-17-3	4-3-3	Won 1
8	Nashville	74	36	30	8	80	188	203	22-12-4	14-18-4	4-2-4	Won 1
9	Anaheim	75	37	32	6	80	215	216	18-17-3	19-15-3	6-4-0	Lost 1
10	St. Louis	74	35	30	9	79	205	214	21-13-5	14-17-4	6-3-1	Won 3
11	Minnesota	74	35	31	8	78	190	182	20-11-6	15-20-2	4-3-3	Won 1
12	Dallas	74	33	32	9	75	206	228	19-14-5	14-18-4	3-6-1	Lost 5
13	Los Angeles	74	31	33	10	72	188	215	16-14-8	15-19-2	4-5-1	Won 1
14	Phoenix	74	31	36	7	69	184	227	20-14-3	11-22-4	3-5-2	Won 1
15	Colorado	75	31	42	2	64	192	243	18-19-0	13-23-2	3-6-1	Lost 6

Comments

[Georgia Panther]

GR-If Anderson finishes the season as the Panthers starting goalie and possibly gets them into the playoffs, what does that mean in regards to Vokoun next season?

[George Richards]

getting a little ahead of yourself, eh? lets just see what happens tonight...

[Karl]

Don't knock the Hawk! He retired as a Fish (i think). Isn't he still in the Marlins front office somewhere?

[Ag]

What happens is if Andy wins out is TiVo is our goalie and Andy signs big somewherelse

[dave]

big game tonight.. here's to hoping for a cats win and Habs loss... no 3 point game either! McCabe is due for a big game tonight