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Red Wings aim for road success in Dallas

Jan 17, 2012 - 4:10 PM (Sports Network) - The Detroit Red Wings have this winning at home thing down pat. It's picking up victories on the road that his hindered the club this season.

One night after setting a franchise record for consecutive home victories, the Red Wings seek to take those winning ways with them to Dallas where they'll take on the Stars for the third time this season.

Detroit put together a great two-way effort to win for the 15th straight time at home last night, getting a goal and two assists from Todd Bertuzzi and a 27-save shutout by Jimmy Howard in a 5-0 triumph over Buffalo. The 15 straight home victories broke the club mark first set from Jan. 21-March 25, 1965.

Howard logged his fifth shutout of the season -- tied for second most in the NHL -- and 10th of his career, while Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Darren Helm and Johan Franzen also scored for the Red Wings. They haven't lost at home since Nov. 3 and have taken three straight and four of five overall.

Detroit holds an excellent 18-2-1 mark at home, but is just 11-13-0 on the road. That has prevented the club from pulling away in the Western Conference as it sits a point back of St. Louis and Chicago for first in both the Central Division and Western standings.

"It's good to get all these wins at home, but we have to play better on the road because we are struggling there," said Detroit forward Pavel Datsyuk, who reached 700 career points thanks to three assists versus the Sabres and has six helpers over his last three games.

"I'm really happy for 700 [points]. I never thought about it before, that I can make it to that milestone."

Howard agreed with Datsyuk that the Red Wings need to find a way to win on the road.

"You can tell guys are playing with confidence here at home, now we just have to translate it into our road game," said the goaltender."

Detroit plays its next two on the road and will visit a Dallas team that was dealt a 1-0 loss in St. Louis on Monday night. Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves, but was outdueled by the Blues' Jaroslav Halak and his 22 saves.

Dallas lost for the third time in four games and was without Jamie Benn (appendectomy) and Mike Ribeiro (MCL) due to injury. The duo has combined for 73 points this season, including a team-high 42 from Benn, who leads the Stars with four points versus the Red Wings this year.

"A 5-4 game probably doesn't hurt as bad as a 1-0 game," said Stars forward Adam Burish. "These ones kind of burn you a little bit just because you're one shot away."

The Stars are two points back of a playoff spot and will need to buck a season-long trend tonight to get on track. They are 0-6-0 this year on the second night of back-to-back games.

Dallas hasn't had trouble scoring versus Detroit this year, logging six goals in the two meetings. However, it has allowed 10 in losing both games and has dropped three of the past four encounters overall.

Detroit has won two in a row at Dallas following a six-game slide there.