• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Stars-Canucks Preview

Oct 10, 2009 - 7:03 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Dallas (1-0-2) at Vancouver (1-3-0), 10:00 p.m. EDT

The Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars both played well at times in their first few games, but just weren't getting the results they were seeking.

That changed for each team last time out.

The Canucks and Stars both look to build on their first wins of the season Sunday night when they meet in Vancouver.

After managing six goals while losing its first three games, Vancouver (1-3-0) had no trouble finding the back of the net in Wednesday's 7-1 victory over Montreal.

Henrik Sedin led the scoring outburst with two goals and two assists for the Canucks, who went 3 for 5 on power-play opportunities after converting 2 of 10 chances in the losses.

"We just spoke about relaxing before the game and just going out there and having fun, play our game and not worry about our record right now," said goaltender Roberto Luongo, who had 27 saves.

Although Vancouver entered Wednesday's game struggling to score, the offense wasn't playing badly. The Canucks were creating plenty of scoring opportunities with an average of 40.0 shots in the first three games, and finally managed to catch some breaks against the Canadiens.

"I love the fact that we got rewarded for our effort," coach Alain Vigneault said. "We could have easily been 3-0 and we weren't, that's going to happen though sometimes."

It could be tough for Vancouver to get as many shots on goal against a Dallas team among the league leaders in shots allowed (24.3 per game).

The Stars (1-0-2) suffered back-to-back shootout losses before Friday's 5-2 win at Calgary. Mike Ribeiro, Brian Sutherby, Tom Wandell, Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards all scored for Dallas, which scored the game's first two goals after trailing early in both losses.

"We've been playing well but when you get a victory, you start getting some momentum," coach Mike Crawford told the Stars' official Web site.

Goaltender Alex Auld provided a boost with a strong game in his Dallas debut. Auld, acquired in a trade with Ottawa in the offseason, made several outstanding stops during one stretch in the first period and finished with 21 saves.

"I just wanted to make a good impression and the guys did a great job making my job pretty easy, scoring goals early," said Auld, who played for the Canucks from 2001-06.

Auld has never faced his former team, and No. 1 goalie Marty Turco, who started a career-high 74 games last season, could be back in net for this contest.

Turco, who has a 2.78 goals-against average through two games, was in goal for all four games against the Canucks last season, going 2-2-0 with a 2.74 GAA. He is 7-3-1 with a 2.38 GAA in 11 games at GM Place.

Luongo started two games against the Stars last season, recording a 2.00 GAA in winning both. Since being acquired by Vancouver prior to the 2006-07 season, Luongo is 6-1-2 with a 1.85 GAA in nine starts against the Stars and has posted a 1.48 GAA in winning all four meetings at GM Place.