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FRISCO, Texas -- Stars fans will get a little glimpse of the future in Saturday night's regular-season finale against the St. Louis Blues at American Airlines Center. Right wing Scott Glennie, the team's first-round pick (eighth overall) in 2009, will make his NHL debut.

So will defenseman Brenden Dillon, a free-agent pick out of the WHL last year. Both those players have spent the season with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League.

The 21-year-old Glennie has 12 goals and 25 assists in 68 games this season. Glennie got off to a slow start after suffering a concussion in training camp, but he's picked up 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) over the past 43 games.

Dillon, who is also 21, is a big, mobile, two-way defenseman. He has 26 points (five goals, 21 assists) in 72 games this season.

Reilly Smith, the third-round pick (69th overall) from 2009, will be back in the lineup. Smith, who signed an entry-level contract with Dallas last month, has already appeared in two games with the Stars.

Richard Bachman will get the start in goal.

The Stars will sit some veterans who have been battling through injuries as the Stars battled to get into the playoffs.

"We've had guys taking injections here to get through a game. These same players can get through a practice without it. You won't see a couple of those guys tomorrow," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Most likely Steve Ott, depending on how he is tomorrow. Radek Dvorak, you guys all know. Guys that you probably didn't know would be [Stephane] Robidas and [Mike] Ribeiro that have been playing injured. Those guys and possibly Brenden [Morrow]. At the end the day, you don't want to give them the needle to play."

Mark Fistric, who injured his groin in Thursday night's game at Nashville, was also getting injections to play prior to last night's injury. He'll be out for Saturday's game.

FRISCO -- The Dallas Stars no longer control their own destiny in the playoff race, but they are still alive and hope to keep the heat on the teams they are chasing.

That means the Stars need to win Thursday in Nashville and then hope that San Jose, Los Angeles and Phoenix don’t get enough points in their next game to eliminate Dallas, pushing the race down to the final day of the season on Saturday.

“If we get our points then and then Los Angeles, San Jose or Phoenix doesn’t on Thursday or Friday, then there is a lot of pressure on somebody the last day,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “We’d like to put that pressure on somebody.”

But the Stars are going to need some help from others. After getting swept in by San Jose in a home-and-home series, the Stars no longer control their own destiny, so they best they can do is take care of their own business and watch and hope.

"We all know the situation. We've got to win two games to give ourselves a chance, and we need a little help," Gulutzan said. "If we take care of ourselves here, I think, it is going to come down to the last day and we are going to put somebody in a must-win situation. That's how we see it playing out. We're not going to focus too much of what somebody else has to do; we have to win, and that's pick up four points in the next two games."

And that was the message Wednesday in Frisco as the Stars prepared to head off to Nashville in yet another do-or-die game.

“We’re still in it, although it is a tougher road,” said defenseman Stephane Robidas. “We have to hope other teams lose, but we can’t quit now. We’ve played 80 games so far and we’ve put ourselves in the situation we’re in. We’ve just got to win our games.

Playing catch up in the playoff race

Here’s a look at how the Stars can catch each of the teams they are still chasing the Western Conference playoff race. The Stars would only need to tie each team in the standings since they would own the first tiebreaker, which is regulation/overtime wins.

Los Angeles: The Stars would have to win both their final two games and the Kings would have to lose both their two remaining games against San Jose in regulation.

Phoenix: The Stars would have to win both their final two games and the Coyotes would have to lose their two remaining games, which are at St. Louis (Friday) and at Minnesota (Saturday).

San Jose: There are two ways to catch the Sharks. The Stars would have to win both their final games and the Sharks would have lose their remaining two games against the Kings and at least one of those losses would have to be in regulation. The second scenario is that the Stars go 1-0-1 in their remaining two games and the Sharks lose both their games against the Kings in regulation.

DALLAS -- The opportunities were there for the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, but the finish wasn’t. And now they are perilously close to being finished in the Western Conference playoff race after a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at American Airlines Center.

“It stings,” said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. “You’d like to be able to control your own fate. We had that tonight, we let it go and now we are going to need a lot of help.”

The loss left the Stars three points behind the eighth place Sharks, four points behind seventh place Phoenix and four points behind Pacific Division leading Los Angeles with two games remaining. The Stars will need to win both games and hope for at least one of those teams to falter.

“It’s going to be tough, but we just can’t quit,” said Morrow. “Stranger things have happened. We are going to need a lot of help, some people to do us some favors. “

The Stars, who have lost seven of their last ten games, didn’t do themselves any favors Tuesday night. They missed on a 57 second five-on-three power play with the game tied 1-1. San Jose scored the game-winning goal on the power play.

“They got their third goal on the power play, and that can be a big difference in the hockey game,” said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. “We score on the five-on-three, and we’ve got a five-on-four after that and we get another one, maybe it’s a different game. But we didn’t.”

After going up 2-1 in the game in the second period, they allowed the Sharks to tie the game just 32 seconds later.

“It’s always the shift right after a goal you need a good shift, and we just didn’t get it,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “It got them right back in the game. We had no chance to build off that momentum of that goal.”

The Stars had a great chance to tie the game with a little more than five minutes, but Jamie Benn’s breakaway bid was turned away by Sharks goalie Antti Niemi. About 30 seconds later the Sharks scored to extend their lead to 4-2.

“We got to spring Jamie on a breakaway, but we were already in trouble at that point,” said Gulutzan. “It would have been nice, but there were a few things throughout the game that we could have done better.”

The Stars had the momentum early in the game, dominating play outshooting the Sharks 8-1 midway through the first period. But the Sharks got on the board 12:09 into the game when Daniel Winnik put a rebound past Kari Lehtonen, who appeared to be interfered with just before the puck went into the net.

The Stars answered late in the period when Brenden Morrow came out from behind the goal line and beat Niemi with a sharp angle backhand shot at the 17:47 mark.

The Stars had a big chance to take the lead when they had 57 seconds of five-on- three power play time that started late in the first and had 38 seconds remaining when the second period began. But they couldn’t get a shot on net, and then failed to take advantage of the remaining five-on-four time.

“We just didn’t execute,” said Gulutzan.

The Stars did take the lead at even strength at the 11:10 mark. Jamie Benn sent a pass from behind the goal line to Alex Goligoski, who beat Niemi with a shot from the point.

But the Sharks scored just 32 seconds later when Dominic Moore sent a puck from behind the goal line to T.J. Galiardi, who roofed a shot over Lehtonen.

“About two weeks ago we were talking about those. We call them bump-up goals,” said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. “Right after you get scored on when you do, then you go out, win a draw, play in the other team’s end and get a big goal.”

The Sharks took the lead with a power play goal with 2:36 left in the second. Martin Havlat centered the puck from the right boards and Logan Couture redirected it past Lehtonen to make it a 3-2 game.

The Stars had a great chance to tie with just over five minutes remaining when Benn got a breakaway, but his backhand bid was stopped by Niemi.

“Huge, if he doesn’t make that it’s a different game,” said Sharks center Joe Thornton. “It’s a set play. We’ve seen him do it in the past. We just kind of fell asleep. He’s a world-class goalie and he makes that save. Saved our bacon again tonight.”

About 30 seconds later, Thornton scored off a wrist shot from the right circle to make it a 4-2 San Jose lead with 4:50 remaining in the game. Ryane Clowe added an empty net goal to make it a 5-2 final and give the Sharks the sweep of a crucial home-and-home series with the Stars.

“The two games against Dallas were the two biggest games of the year,” said McLellan. “We’re in a playoff series, we talked about that. When you can win back-to-back games in a playoff series – one at home and one on the road – you usually set yourself up pretty well. Very big, considering that four points went into our account and none went into theirs.”

And now the Stars will move onto play at Nashville, where they’ll need a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

“You have to move forward and now we need help,” said Gulutzan. “You just start preparing and get ready for Nashville. It’s business as usual. There’s no other way to look at it. It’s business as usual. We’ve got to go win a game.”

Notes

*The Sharks won five of six games against the Stars this season. Not including the goal awarded for the shootout win, the Sharks outscored the Stars 25-10 in the season series.

*The Stars have two games remaining in the regular season. They play at Nashville Thursday and host St. Louis Saturday.

*The Stars are 0-11 on the power play over their last four games and 1-21 (4.8%) on the PP over the last seven games.

*The Stars have allowed six power play goals over the last five games and are 17-23 (73.9%) on the penalty kill during that stretch.

*Stars RW Radek Dvorak missed his fifth straight game with an ankle injury.

*Toby Petersen, Reilly Smith, Tom Wandell and Adam Pardy were healthy scratches for Dallas.

*Tuesday’s attendance was 18,584, a sellout.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars’ 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks Tuesday night.

Stars captain Brenden Morrow on the loss

“It stings. You’d like to be able to control your own fate. We had that tonight, we let it go and now we are going to need a lot of help.”

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan on where the game turned

“I thought the shift after the 2-1 goal, when we went up 2-1. We made a mistake with coverage. It’s always the shift right after a goal you need a good shift, and we just didn’t get it. It got them right back in the game. We had no chance to build off that momentum of that goal.”

Gulutzan on moving forward

“You have to move forward and now we need help. You just start preparing and get ready for Nashville. It’s business as usual. There’s no other way to look at it. It’s business as usual. We’ve got to go win a game.”

Gulutzan on the Stars missing on a five-on-three power play

“We didn’t execute there. With 19 seconds left (in the first period) we got a shot off, but just didn’t execute and we lost a little track of time. Going in between periods we had things set up, but we didn’t execute.”

Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas on special teams play

“You’ve got to score on the power play. That’s what they did. They got their third goal on the power play, and that can be a big difference in the hockey game. We score on the five-on-three, and we’ve got a five-on-four after that and we get another one, maybe it’s a different game. But we didn’t . Sometimes you can win games on your power play, but it didn’t happen tonight. “

Sharks coach Todd McLellan on sweeping the home-and-home series with the Stars

“The two games against Dallas were the two biggest games of the year. We’re in a playoff series, we talked about that. When you can win back-to-back games in a playoff series – one at home and one on the road – you usually set yourself up pretty well. Very big, considering that four points went into our account and none went into theirs.”

Sharks center Joe Thornton on Antti Niemi stopping Jamie Benn on a breakaway late in the game to keep the Sharks ahead by one goal

“Huge, if he doesn’t make that it’s a different game. It’s a set play. We’ve seen him do it in the past. We just kind of fell asleep. He’s a world-class goalie and he makes that save. Saved our bacon again tonight.”

The Dallas Stars have been in an every-game-is-big mentality for some time now, but they've faced no bigger game this season than this Tuesday’s tilt against San Jose at American Airlines Center.

“It’s a do-or-die mentality,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It’s got to be there.”

They’ll enter the game one point behind the eighth-place Sharks with three games left. A loss would be a devastating blow. A win, and there’s life.

“Our fate is in our own hands, still, and at this juncture of the season that is what you have to focus on,” Gulutzan said. “We don’t need someone to beat somebody else, we just need to win our last three games.”

Those last three games won’t be easy tilts. Three good teams. All with something to play for as well. The Sharks, like the Stars, are in a dogfight just to make the playoffs.

The Nashville Predators, whom the Stars visit Thursday, are in a three-way battle for the fourth seed in the West and home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

The St. Louis Blues, who come to Dallas on Saturday, are vying for the top spot in the West and home ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

“We’ve been doing it the hard way all year and we’re kind of in that spot right now. It’s nice to go back home, but we’ve got our work cut out,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “It’s three tough teams, (San Jose) is a tough team to play, they’re hungry, they know what’s at stake and it doesn’t get any easier from there.”

The Sharks have won four of five from the Stars this season and their 3-0 win Saturday was a convincing victory. But three of their wins over the Stars came with Dallas playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and the Stars will now have a couple of days to rest up and get ready for the rematch.

“It’s a must-win,” Morrow said. “I don’t know the exact mathematical equation or what needs to be done, but it’s probably three wins or nothing for us. It’s nice to be able to get them again while the blood’s hot a little bit, get a little redemption, but if we do the same thing we did (Saturday night), we’re not going to have the success we want.”

“You just got to bounce back, learn from what we did wrong,” Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “It’s a good team and but it’s a team we know we can beat. Sometimes when things don’t go well, you try to complicate things and that’s the wrong thing to do. You’ve got to simplify them.”

And the simple fact is the Stars, who have lost three of their last four games and six of their last nine, have to win Tuesday.

With three games left in the season the Dallas Stars are now on the outside looking in at a playoff spot. The Stars fell to ninth place in the Western Conference Saturday, falling 3-0 to the Sharks in San Jose.

The Sharks, who entered the game one point behind the Stars, started strong, scoring in the first minute of the game and controlling play for most of the night.

“We needed to put more pucks on their net, create some more residual chances there. They had a lot of jump and did it to us,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “They got that one early and it kind of set us back. The early jump was kind of the difference.”

Sharks center Joe Thornton set up a wide open Joe Pavelski, who beat Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen with a shot from the slot just 58 seconds into the game to give San Jose an early 1-0 lead.

The Stars put the Sharks on three power play s in the first period and San Jose cashed in on the third one. Martin Havlat set up Jason Demers, who scored from the left circle late in the period to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.

It was not the first period the Stars needed.

“Our start, for one thing. I think they doubled up on us in shots early in the game. We wanted to be disciplined and stay out of the penalty box. We didn’t do that. They made us pay on the power play,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “Playing with more desperation. Our backs are against the wall. It was kind of a must win for us and we didn’t get the start we needed.”

Pavelski added another goal in the second period. Antti Niemi stopped a total of 22 shots for the Sharks, who outshot the Stars 34-22 in the game.

“It was the biggest game of the year for us,” Thornton said. “We started well and I though we competed hard all the way through. It was a good job by us.”

The Stars have lost six of their last nine games and went 1-3-0 on their just concluded four-game road trip. They fell to 1-11-2 in the second games of back-to backs.

“I was a little bit worried about this game coming in. We’ve never been good in back-to-backs,” Gulutzan said. “The whole road trip, I was most disappointed with the Calgary game (5-4 loss). We’d be sitting in a different situation in a winnable hockey game.”

The Stars are one point behind the eighth place Sharks, who will be at American Airlines Center Tuesday to conclude the home-and-home series.

“We’ve got to move on. We’ve got a big game against this team Tuesday,” Gulutzan said. “Our fate is in our own hands, still, and at this juncture of the season that is what you have to focus on.”

The Stars have three games remaining and it’s a tough schedule. They host San Jose onTuesday, play at Nashville on Thursday and then wrap up the season with a game against St. Louis on Saturday at American Airlines Center.

“We are where we are and, like I said, we still control our own destiny,” Gulutzan said. “We don’t need someone to beat somebody else. We just need to win our last three games.”

And that quest starts Tuesday with the rematch against the Sharks.

“We’ve just got to bounce back,” Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “We’ve got to learn from what we did wrong tonight. We’re playing the same team, so it should be fresh in our memory. It won’t be a different system, we know how they play and what they’re trying to do. It’s a good team, but it’s a team we can beat.”

Notes

*Stars defenseman Mark Fistric returned to the lineup after missing the last five games with an abdominal strain.

*Stars forward Toby Petersen was in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past 15 games. He played 4:46 in the game.

*Radek Dvorak (ankle), Eric Nystrom (leg) and Tom Wandell (illness) were out for Dallas.

*Reilly Smith, Adam Pardy and Jordie Benn were healthy scratches for Dallas.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars’ 3-0 loss at San Jose Saturday night.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

“We needed to put more pucks on their net, create some more residual chances there. They had a lot of jump and did it to us. They got that one early and it kind of set us back. The early jump was kind of the difference.”

“We’ve got to move on. We’ve got a big game against this team Tuesday. Our fate is in our own hands, still, and at this juncture of the season that is what you have to focus on.”

Gulutzan on the 1-3-0 road trip

“I was a little bit worried about this game coming in. We’ve never been good in back-to-backs. The whole road trip, I was most disappointed with the Calgary game. We’d be sitting in a different situation in a winnable hockey game. But we are where we are and, like I said, we still control our own destiny. We don’t need someone to beat somebody else. We just need to win our last three games.”

Stars captain Brenden Morrow on what went wrong

“Pretty much everything. Our start, for one thing. I think they doubled up on us in shots early in the game. We wanted to be disciplined and stay out of the penalty box. We didn’t do that. They made us pay on the power play. Playing with more desperation. Our backs are against the wall. It was kind of a must win for us and we didn’t get the start we needed.”

Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas

“We’ve just got to bounce back. We’ve got to learn from what we did wrong tonight. We’re playing the same team, so it should be fresh in our memory. It won’t be a different system, we know how they play and what they’re trying to do. It’s a good team, but it’s a team we can beat.”

Needing wins or at least points in a tight playoff race, the Dallas Stars found a way to get neither Monday night in Calgary. Penalties and turnovers proved costly as the Stars fell 5-4 to the Flames.

The Stars, who had 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the game, gave up four goals in the second period, one off a turnover and two off Calgary power plays.

“We gave them what happened tonight. We had the game, we were in a good spot at 2-1, then we make an error and then we take penalty after penalty until they get a two goal lead. Dumb, dumb penalties,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “You’ve got to learn how to win and the way we went about it doesn’t look like we want to win. It really doesn’t. They’ve got to figure that out for themselves.”

The Stars’ penalty kill, which has been stellar as of late, gave up three power play goals on six shorthanded opportunities. Calgary scored twice on the power play late in the second to turn a 3-3 game into a 5-3 Calgary lead.

“We got into penalty trouble and their power play beat us tonight,” said Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray. “We weren’t as disciplined as we have been. We talked about that and we just got a little bit away from that. We just let them get on the power play way too much tonight.”

The loss, their fourth in the last six games, dropped the Stars to seventh place in the Western Conference standings. They are one point out of the first in the Pacific Division and the third seed in the West, but still just one point ahead of ninth place.

“It’s a tough game to lose. We definitely needed these two points,” said Stars forward Jamie Benn. “We had too many turnovers and too many costly penalties. We shoot ourselves in the foot tonight.”

Benn gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 24 seconds into the game, beating Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff with a shot from beyond the left circle off the rush. Calgary tied with an Olli Jokinen power play goal at 6:53 of the first.

Benn scored 44 seconds into the second period on a shot from the slot off the rush to put the Stars up 2-1, and after the next shift, with his team looking out of sync, Flames coach Brent Sutter called a timeout.

“Do you really want to know,” Sutter said when asked what he said during the timeout. “It was just get back to settling down and playing our game.”

Midway through the period, the Flames scored two goals in 45 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead. The first one came at the 9:16 mark when Stars forward Mike Ribeiro’s pass into the slot in the Dallas zone went right onto the stick of Calgary’s Blake Comeau, who ripped the puck past Kari Lehtonen to tie the game.

At the 10:01 mark Mike Cammalleri scored on the rebound of Anton Babchuk shot after the Flames had won an offensive zone draw.

Ribeiro scored off a rebound with 5:31 left in the second to tie the game at 3-3, but Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas was called for tripping 30 seconds later and Calgary scored just before Robidas came out of the penalty box. Mark Giordano scored off a blast form the point with 3:02 left in the period.

Ninety seconds later, Stars forward Steve Ott was called for tripping and the Flames struck again on the power play to make it a 5-3 game. Cammalleri set up Alex Tanguay, who scored from the slot.

Philip Larsen scored on the power play for the Stars early in the third, but Dallas could never get the equalizer.

The Flames snapped a five-game winless streak and pulled to within two points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“If you look at the standings we are definitely not out of it,” said Giordano. “We got a big win tonight, and we’ll go game-by-game here.”

Notes

*The Stars lost left wing Eric Nystrom in the first period after he was cut on the leg. He is day-to-day, according to Stars coach Glen Gulutzan.

*Stars right wing Radek Dvorak missed Monday’s game due to a sore ankle.

*Tom Wandell, Toby Petersen, Jordie Benn and Reilly Smith were scratched for Dallas.

*The Stars allowed three power play goals in a game for the second time this season. They allowed three in a 5-4 shootout win at Los Angeles on January 12.

*Stars forward Jamie Benn has eight goals in the last ten games.

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Stars held a short, fast-paced practice this afternoon as they prepare for Saturday afternoon's game against the Calgary Flames at American Airlines Center.

The the Stars have been holding optional skates during off days recently to conserve energy, but today was not a full optional. Just about everybody was out there.

"No morning skate tomorrow. Most of these guys like to skate 24 hours before. They don't like to go too long without skating," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said.

Mike Ribeiro, Stephane Robidas and Steve Ott were among the guys off the ice for maintenance days.

"Lot of minutes. Couple of other guys decided they'd rather skate." Gulutzan said. "A few guys had maintenance days, but they needed it."

Kari Lehtonen, who did skate today, will get the start in goal tomorrow against the Flames.

Jack Campbell expect to make pro debut tonight

Stars goaltending prospect Jack Campbell is expected to make his professional debut tonight for the Texas Stars, who play at Oklahoma City. Campbell, Dallas' first round pick (11th overall) in 2010, was assigned to Texas of the American Hockey League earlier this week.

Forward Austin Smith (fifth round/2007) also is expected to make his pro debut with Texas tonight. Smith, the Dallas native who just wrapped up his college career, led the nation in goal scoring at Colgate and is among the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to the top player in college hockey.

EULESS -- The Western Conference playoff race has gotten tighter while the Dallas Stars have been off this weekend.

They still sit in first place in the Pacific Division and third in the Western Conference, but their lead is down to points percentage over Phoenix in the division, and San Jose can pass both those teams with a win Monday night in Anaheim.

The Stars will get back to the business of trying to collect points Tuesday, when they host Phoenix at American Airlines Center in a game that will kick off the final ten games of the season. Ten games that will decide if the Stars make the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Basically, these are the playoffs before the playoffs.

“You can’t look ahead too far or too much at the big picture, you’ve to look at it one game at a time. You’ve got to treat it like a playoff series,” said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. “You win a game, you’re happy with it and you move on. You lose a game, you move on. To me, that’s the main thing, we’ve got to take care of our business.”

At this time of the season most teams focus on their game and what they are doing, and that’s what the Stars want to do. Sure, they scout the opponents, but the focus is on what they need to do to win hockey games.

“We’ve been worrying about other teams as we go over the other aspects of their games, but we’ve been keying on each other in here and on the valuable things that make us hard to play against and things that are making us able to win,” said Stars forward Steve Ott.

The Stars’ recent run that included a six-game winning streak and an 11-game points streak, help put them where they are in the standings, but they aren’t operating in a vacuum. There’s a lot going around them. Other teams winning too and their heels in the standings, but being chased is better than chasing.

“The good thing is teams are chasing us. We are not chasing any teams,” said Robidas. “We’re still third in the conference, that’s the positive sign. We’re in control. We just have to win our games.”

And five of those final ten games will come against those teams that the Stars are directly battling both in the Pacific Division race and for a spot in the Western Conference playoff spot. They play Phoenix once, San Jose twice and Calgary twice.

And although teams like San Jose, Los Angles and Colorado have gotten hot recently and closed the gap on the Stars, Stars coach Gulutzan said that’s not a bad thing. Everybody is in the same boat – they’ve got to get the job done and do it against each other over these final three weeks of the season to make it to the postseason tournament.

“There are more teams in the soup and the pressure is going to go on everybody,” said Gulutzan. “Colorado plays Calgary twice, we play Calgary twice, we play San Jose twice, so everyone is in the fire. Everyone is in the fire, so the teams that get in are going to deserve to get in.”

Chicago Blackhawks at Dallas Stars
Friday, March 16
7:30 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports Southwest
Radio: KTCK-1310 (AM)

About the Stars

The Stars (39-27-5) had a six-game winning streak and an 11-game points streak snapped with a 5-2 loss at Winnipeg on Wednesday.

“We beat ourselves, we didn’t play well, we turned pucks over way too easy,” Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “We didn’t play a simple game like we’ve been doing in the past 11, 12 games. We’ve just got to go back to basics.”

Friday’s game against Chicago kicks off a four-game homestand that will see the Stars also play Phoenix, Vancouver and Calgary.

Kari Lehtonen is scheduled to start in goal for the Stars Friday.

Injuries: D Philip Larsen (lower body) is day-to-day. RW Radek Dvorak (ankle) and D Sheldon Souray (lower body) are out.

About the Blackhawks

The Blackhawks (38-25-8) are coming off a 4-3 shootout victory over St. Louis on Tuesday. The Blackhawks overcame a 3-1 deficit in the game and put 46 shots on goal against the defensive-minded Blues.

“That was a fun game,” Chicago forward Patrick Kane said. “A really fun game. … To put up 40-plus shots on a team like that, that is so defensive, says something about our team. What we can do when we play to our potential.”

Chicago improved to 5-2-0 over its last seven games.

Corey Crawford is scheduled to start in goal for the Blackhawks.

Injuries: D Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper body) is questionable. C Jonathan Toews (concussion), D Steve Montador (concussion), LW Daniel Carcillo (knee) and D Sami Lepisto (leg) are out.

Series notes

*This is the fourth and final meeting between the two teams.

*The Stars are 2-1-0 in the season series and the Blackhawks are 1-2-0.

*October 7, at Dallas: Stars 2, Blackhawks 1
*October 8, at Chicago: Blackhawks 5, Stars 2
*February 23, at Chicago, Stars 3, Blackhawks 1

*If the playoffs started Friday, the Stars and Blackhawks would meet in the first round.

Statistical tidbits

*Over his last nine starts, Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen is 8-0-1 with a 1.29 goals against average, .955 save percentage and three shutouts.

*Lehtonen has posted shutouts in his last two starts and is currently riding a 128:32 shutout streak.

*Dallas is 4-0-1 in its last five home games.

*The Stars are 36-38 (94.7%) on the penalty kill over the last 12 games.

*Chicago is 11-12 (91.7) on the penalty kill over the last six games.

*Stars forward Loui Eriksson has 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in his last 11 games.

*Chicago forward Patrick Kane has 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) over his last 8 games.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars’ 5-2 loss at Winnipeg on Wednesday.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

”I thought our effort wasn’t up to par, wasn’t where it needed to be. We knew they were going to come out hard and coming out of that first, down 1-0, I thought we were fine. We just didn’t have a lot of resolve in the second. They got some goals there and we couldn’t stop the flood.”

Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas

“We beat ourselves. We didn’t play well. We turned pucks over. We let them come into the zone way too easy. They got a good start, scored the first goal and got the crowd into the game. We didn’t play a simple game like we’ve been doing in the past 11 to 12 games. We’ve just got to go back to the basics.”

Stars forward Loui Eriksson

“It wasn’t our best game. We turned the puck over too many times. We didn’t play the game we’ve been playing lately. We have to step up and play a better game in front of (Richard) Bachman. It’s not easy for him to save all those clear chances they had today.”

The Dallas Stars’ winning streak ended at six and their points streak ended at 11 with a 5-2 loss at Winnipeg on Wednesday night. The Stars also had a six-game road winning streak snapped.

The Stars lost for the first time in regulation since a 3-2 loss to Nashville on February 19. The Stars fell to 1-10-2 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.

Loui Eriksson scored both goals for the Stars, his 24th and 25th of the season. Richard Bachman stopped 23 of 28 shots.

The Stars lost defenseman Philip Larsen to a lower body injury in the game.

First period

Winnipeg came out with some early pressure and scored 2:21 into the game to take a 1-0 lead.

Antti Miettinen dug the puck out of the corner and set up Nik Antropov, who scored on Richard Bachman from the left circle.

The Stars had some good chances, but Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec made a nice pad save on Jamie Benn and a blocker save on a point shot by Stephane Robidas.

The shots were 10-9 in favor of Winnipeg in the first. There were no power plays.

The Stars lost defenseman Philip Larsen in the period and he went into the boards feet first while trying to defend Winnipeg forward Blake Wheeler. He returned for one shift late in the second period, but did not return for the third period.

Second period

The Jets scored four times in the third period to blow the game open.

The first goal came at the 1:19 mark. After an Alexander Burmistrov shot rebounded off Richard Bachman’s mask, Evander Kane put the rebound into the net to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead.

The Jets made it a 3-0 at the 8:28 mark when Eric Fehr blocked an Adam Pardy shot at the right point, chipped the puck past Stars defenseman, broke in down the right wing and beat Bachman with a slap shot from the right circle.

Andrew Ladd made it 4-0 when banged home a rebound at the 9:15 mark.

Winnipeg scored on its second power play of the night to make it 5-0. Dustin Byfuglien scored on a wrist shot from the right point at the 16:12 mark.

Just 27 seconds later the Stars finally got on the board when Mike Ribeiro set up Loui Eriksson, who scored from close range.

Third period

Eriksson scored with 3:44 left in the game off a nice set up by Michael Ryder to round out the scoring in the game.

There was a scrum with 2:47 left in the game. Adam Burish picked up a unsportsmanlike conduct minor and game misconduct after he threw one of the Winnipeg player's gloves into the stands and Winnipeg’s Tanner Glass was given a roughing minor and ten minute misconduct for going after Burish. Stars forward Vernon Fiddler also picked up a ten minute misconduct.

DALLAS -- Stars captain Brenden Morrow made an impact in his first game in more than a month, scoring a power play goal as the Dallas Stars ran their winning streak to five games and their points streak to ten with a 2-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks Saturday night at American Airlines Center.

“It feels good. I was a little nervous to make sure it didn’t screw things up with the way the team was playing and rolling,” Morrow said. “Kari (Lehtonen) made sure I didn’t do that sitting in the penalty box three times.”

Morrow, who had missed the last 18 games with back and neck issues, played 16:34, registering three hits and picking up six minutes in penalties during the game. He also provided an emotional boost.

“It’s huge,” said Stars forward Steve Ott. “He’s our leader, he’s our captain.”

The Stars got another stellar performance from Lehtonen, who stopped all 21 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season and his second in the last eight games. Lehtonen is 7-0-1 with a 1.45 goals against average and .950 save percentage in his last eight starts.

“The last three weeks we’ve been playing real solid and everybody has been helping me out. I’ve been trying to do the same. It’s just fun when you can get wins,” Lehtonen said. “With every win it gets more exciting. Guys are smiling and working hard. It’s just a great time of the year to be in it.”

The Stars were determined to get Lehtonen the shutout after the Stars goalie lost a shutout bid with 30 seconds remaining in a game at Edmonton last week.

“The best part of my day was when that buzzer rang and he got the shutout,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “That guy deserves that and we owed him one.”

The victory kept the Stars three points ahead of Phoenix in the race for first place in the Pacific Division and the third seed in the Western Conference. The Stars have a six point lead over the ninth place spot in the standings.

Specials teams were key for the Stars, who were 1-4 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill. During their ten game points streak the Stars have killed off 30 of 31 opposition power plays.

“That’s just commitment from those guys,” Gulutzan said of the Stars penalty killers.

The Stars scored at 2:37 of the second period, just one second after a 35 second five-on-three power play expired. Jamie Benn sent a pass across the crease to Morrow, who put the puck into the open side of the net.

“Those four-footers with an empty cage are pretty easy to hit some times," Morrow said. "Jamie Benn made a great play to hit me backdoor with an empty net.”

The Ducks had some power play time in the second period, but couldn’t cash in. One of those penalties was a boarding minor on Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas for a hit on Ducks forward Corey Perry, who played a couple shifts after the hit but eventually left the game. The hit didn’t sit well with Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau.

“If that wasn’t a five-minute penalty then I don’t know what is,” Boudreau said. “He’s in the most vulnerable position, head first going into the boards and he’s getting a shove. Whether it’s a big shove or a little shove, it’s a shove of a defenseless person into the boards. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that and you put your best player out in a game we had to win.”

The loss was a huge blow to the Ducks, whose chances of making the playoffs took another hit. They are eight points out of the final playoff spot with just 13 games remaining in the season.

“We are running out of time,” Boudreau said. “It’s not fun when you’re running out of time but it wasn’t for lack of effort. They’re giving it everything they’ve got right to the end and we’re really proud of their effort right now."

Michael Ryder rounded out the scoring for Dallas with an empty net goal with 46 seconds remaining to make it a 2-0 final and keep the Stars the hottest team in the NHL.

Notes

*Stars forward Radek Dvorak left the game in the third period with an ankle injury and did not return. There was no news on his status moving forward.

*Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray missed Saturday’s game with a lower body injury.

*Forwards Jake Dowell, Ryan Garbutt and Toby Petersen were healthy scratches for the Stars.

*Michael Ryder’s goal was his 30^th of the season, tying his career high.

*Saturday’s attendance was 18.228

DALLAS -- Brenden Morrow and Steve Ott both will be in the lineup tonight when the Dallas Stars take on the Anaheim Ducks at American Airlines Center.

Morrow has missed the last 18 games with neck and back issues. He's expected to play on a line with Ott and Jamie Benn, and Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said they'll ease Morrow back into things.

"We're going to manage his minutes," Gulutzan said. "Probably between 10 and 12, or 10 and 14, somewhere in there for the first game in five-and-a-half weeks."

Ott missed the last game with back spasms, but said he felt fine after going through Saturday morning's skate.

"It feels good," Ott said. "I finally got it to loosen up with a lot of rehab over the past couple days."

With Ott and Morrow both returning, the Stars will have to scratch three forwards. Gulutzan said Toby Petersen will be one of the scratches, but the others would be game-time decisions.

With Sheldon Souray out with a lower body injury, Adam Pardy will be back in the lineup. He's expected to be paired with Philip Larsen. The other defensive pairings will be Alex Goligoski-Stephane Robidas and Mark Fistric-Trevor Daley.

Kari Lehtonen is in goal tonight.