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Stars involved in tight race in Pacific Division

Mar 2, 2007 - 3:42 PM Columbus (24-33-7) at Dallas 38-21-4) 8:30 pm EST

DALLAS (Ticker) -- The Dallas Stars are involved in a tight three-team race in the Pacific Division.

The Stars try to rebound from a loss to a poor team when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

Dallas is five points behind first-place Anaheim and two ahead of the third-place San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.

The Stars lost, 2-1, in overtime to the lowly Florida Panthers on Thursday. The Panthers entered with 63 points and in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Darryl Sydor scored while goaltender Mike Smith made 34 saves for the Stars, who are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games.

Smith is 4-1-1 with just seven goals against in his last five starts. He is 8-2-0 with a 1.70 goals-against average in seven home outings.

Dallas is 8-3-0 in the second of back-to-back games. It is 4-6-2 in the first of consecutive games.

The Blue Jackets have 55 points and are 13th in the Western Conference. They fell to 1-3-2 in their last six after a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. Rick Nash scored twice in a span of 1:27 late in the third period.

Nash had 12 points in 10 games during February. He had just one point in eight January contests.