Stars recount local ties to Detroit area before matchup against Red Wings

The Stars will have plenty of reasons to play well at Little Caesars Arena tonight.
Yes, they can make a big step in clinching home ice for the first round of the playoffs and can keep up with red hot Colorado for first place in the Central Division, but there are a few more personal reasons.

Luke Glendening is a Michigan native and played eight seasons for the Red Wings.
Scott Wedgewood and Jason Robertson both call the Detroit area home in the summer.
Plus, Wedgewood (Plymouth), Ty Dellandrea (Flint), Tyler Seguin (Plymouth), Wyatt Johnston (Windsor), Jake Oettinger (U.S. Development team in Ann Arbor) and Pete DeBoer (Windsor and Plymouth) all have junior ties to area teams.
"I'm just looking at the list of family and friends, and there is a ton of guys," DeBoer said. "Oettinger played at the program, Wedgewood and Seguin played in Plymouth, Johnny played in Windsor, and I've got Windsor connections. And even Dellandrea played up the road, so there's a lot of guys from the area."

Oettinger always get fired up playing in front of his family and friends in his home state of Minnesota and said he can feel the same energy for tonight's game.
"There's a ton of connections here," Oettinger said. "There are going to be lot of people in the stands for us, and hopefully we can make them proud."
Glendening was born in Grand Rapids, played at the University of Michigan, and then logged 554 regular season games for the Red Wings, so every trip has good memories for him. He's happy to be sharing that with his teammates.
"There are a lot of guys with connections back to the Detroit area, so I think a lot of guys are excited, me included," Glendening said. "Everyone has their unique experience, whether it's juniors or billet families, or whatever it is. It's fun."

The game is also important because the Stars are battling for first place in the Central Division. Colorado is two points ahead (104-102) and each team has three games remaining. If the Stars finished tied with the Avalanche, they would win the division based on the first tiebreaker of regulation wins (36-34). The first-place team would play Seattle in the first round. The second place (or third place) team would get Minnesota.
"You want your game in a good place, but we're still playing for the division and the conference. Everything is still up in the air," DeBoer said. "The message today is we have battled for 79 games, and we have a chance to win the division and set ourselves up for the easiest path. There's no easy path come playoffs, but an easier path. Let's make sure we take care of our end of it, which is winning games."
DeBoer said after a 2-1 shootout win over Vegas on Saturday that he would like the team to have better starts and iron out a few details in their game. Dallas is 5-1-0 in its past six games and trending in the right direction, but this team still could do more.
"We have three games left to finish off strong and six points that we could use," Glendening said. "We want to put our best foot forward. We've got to keep getting better. You want to have your best game come playoff time. We're close, but we've got to keep pushing. There's always room for improvement."
Key Numbers
999
Stars forward Joe Pavelski has 999 points in 1,247 regular season games and could become the 10th player born in the United States to tally 1,000 points in his career.
25
That's the franchise record for road wins in a season (2005-06). The Stars currently have 23 road wins with two road games to go.
18
Dallas is tied for first in the NHL in empty-net goals at 18 and is second in winning percentage in games that were decided by three goals or more (.750).
He said it
"He's kind of the backbone of the whole thing. Sudsy has been here for 20 some years, and to have him leave is going to hurt a lot. I don't think we're really going to know what it's going to be like without him until we have to face that next year."
- Oettinger on a special mask he will wear for the final three games and then present to Stars head equipment man Steve "Sudsy" Sumner, who is retiring after 23 years with the team.
Expected lineup
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Domi-Seguin-Dellandrea
Kiviranta-Faksa-Glendening
Suter-Heiskanen
Lindell-Hakanpää
Harley-Miller
Oettinger
Wedgewood
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika