The last two days for the Boston Bruins must have been the longest of the season. The Black and Gold haven’t played a game since their lackluster effort against the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night.

Head coach Claude Julien was upset with his team’s decision making, lack of net front presence and willingness to work in their 3-1 loss Saturday night. It was the first time his team lost in six games.

Related: Bruins outworked in 3-1 loss to Blue Jackets

Tonight, the B’s will travel to the Lone Star state to take on Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars for the first time in the 2014-2015 season. Last year, the two teams each won a game on the road.

The Stars are on the outside looking in of the playoff picture, but have won their last two contests. The Black and Gold carry a 9-9-2 record away from TD Garden.

The B’s will be without Brad Marchand yet again as he is serving the last game of his two-game suspension for his slew foot incident.

On Boston.com: Marchand’s slew foot earns him two-game ban

Here is your complete Bruins-Stars Preview:

[Bruins fans traveling to Dallas, are you looking for last minute tickets for tonight’s game? Check out TicketMonster. Tickets start at just $16]

Gametime: 8:30
Records: Bruins 24-16-6 (54 points)/Stars 21-17-7 (49 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: American Airlines Center

Bruins’ projected lines:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Craig Cunningham-Gregory Campbell-Jordan Caron

Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Stars’ projected lines:

Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Colton Sceviour
Erik Cole-Jason Spezza-Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel-Cody Eakin-Ryan Garbutt
Shawn Horcoff-Vernon Fiddler-Travis Moen

Alex Goligoski-John Klingberg
Jordie Benn-Jason Demers
Jyrki Jokipakka-Jamie Oleksiak

Kari Lehtonen
Anders Lindback

Who to watch for Bruins: Reilly Smith

Paging Reilly Smith. Paging Reilly Smith. The 23 year-old has gone on another one of his cold streaks over the past month.

Smith is scoreless in his last nine contests while only contributing two assists. His last goal came against the Detroit Red Wings on December 29th and before that on December 16th against the Nashville Predators, a span of another five games.

The second line right-winger is facing off against his former team tonight opposite the kid he was traded for – Tyler Seguin. Smith has 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) in 46 games this season, which is just not enough productivity out of a second-line winger.

Smith needs to take more shots on net instead of looking for that extra nifty pass that Julien was talking about during his postgame presser against the Blue Jackets. The former Star has only six shots in his last five games resulting in zero goals and zero points.

Who to watch for Stars: Tyler Seguin

There is no secret who the Bruins will be focused on tonight, the kid they traded away two seasons ago. It seemed like the right move at the time due to his off-ice issues, but it looks as if Seguin’s attitude towards the game is changing.

In 45 games this season, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft has 28 goals (first in the NHL) and 24 assists good for 52 points, which ranks him second in the league. His 183 shots on net also rank him second in the league.

Since his trade from Boston, Seguin has racked up 65 goals and 71 assists (136 points) in 125 career games for the Stars. He had 46 goals and 65 assists (111 points) in 203 career games under Julien.

Zdeno Chara has a tall task tonight, but as always he is afraid of nothing and will try to limit Seguin’s speed and creativity.

Game Day Edge: Short term memory

The Black and Gold must forget about their dismal performance Saturday night against the Blue Jackets and come out with a purpose in the first 20 minutes against the Stars.

On Boston.com: Bruins get away from basics

During the B’s five game win streak, they were getting bodies to the net, playing with physicality and taking shots when they had them. Saturday night, the team was back to their old habits of looking for the extra pass and huddling around the outside. That will not work against the Stars let alone any team.

The two days off should do the B’s well. They needed to refocus and re-energize. There are two games left before the All-Star break with four points on the line.

The Black and Gold need to figure it out in the first 20 minutes and forget about their last loss in order to obtain those first two crucial points.