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Red Wings continue push toward third straight Presidents' Trophy

Mar 30, 2007 - 3:08 PM Dallas (46-24-6) at Detroit (47-19-11) 7:30 pm EDT

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings continue their quest for a third straight Presidents' Trophy on Friday when they face the surging Dallas Stars.

Detroit is looking for its sixth straight Central Division title and is battling with Buffalo (49-20-7) and Nashville (49-22-7) for the league's best mark. The Red Wings, Sabres and Predators have 105 points, one in front of Anaheim for the NHL's top mark.

The Red Wings are attempting to become the first team to finish first overall in the standings for three straight seasons since Montreal from 1976-78.

On Thursday, the Red Wings tied the Predators for first place in the Central Division with a 2-1 victory. Pavel Datsyuk scored the go-ahead goal for the Red Wings while on the power play in the second period.

Now the Red Wings must deal with the Stars, who have won eight of their last 10 games. On Tuesday, Mike Ribeiro scored two goals and Sergei Zubov notched two assists in a 6-0 thrashing of Phoenix.

Dallas is six points behind Anaheim (46-20-12) for first place in the Pacific Division with six games left.

Detroit has won all three meetings with Dallas this season and is 8-1-1 with five ties since the 2002-03 campaign.