McKINNEY -- It appears center Mike Modano (cracked ribs) and winger Jere Lehtinen (intercostal muscle) will return to the lineup Wednesday against Calgary.
Both players skated at the McKinney Dr Pepper StarCenter at Craig Ranch on Monday and are expected to practice Tuesday. Stars coach Marc Crawford said the club will decide Wednesday morning if both are playing.
On Monday, Crawford inserted them on lines where he said he expects them to play if they're ready. With the Brenden Morrow-Mike Ribeiro-Jamie Benn line struggling the last few games, Crawford shifted Lehtinen to wing with Morrow and Ribeiro. He has Modano centering a line with Steve Ott and Jamie Benn. We'll see if that gets both lines going.
"You can't have as many defensive miscues as we've been having and not somehow say, 'OK, hey, I'm just going to keep rolling with it.'" Crawford said. "It comes while we've got pretty significant guys coming back to our lineup."
Other notes:
Mark Fistric was helped off the ice after he was hit in the ankle by a shot.
Trevor Daley had a gash on his cheek that required stitches.
Loui Eriksson did not practice because of flu-like symptoms. Brad Richards (groin) was given the day off.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Contributors
Richard Durrett
Richard Durrett joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He writes about colleges, the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers. Richard spent nine years at The Dallas Morning News covering the Rangers, Stars, colleges, motorsports and high schools.
