Stars 1 - 0 Wild
Final
  for this game

Surging Stars visit Minnesota

Mar 13, 2012 - 2:58 PM (Sports Network) - The Stars haven't lost in regulation in nearly a month and the reward for that run is first place in the Pacific Division.

Dallas will look to extend its longest point streak in nine years this evening as it battles the free-falling Minnesota Wild.

The Stars are 9-0-1 since their last regulation loss on Feb. 19, with a shootout loss to the Penguins on Feb. 29 the lone blemish for the club over that period. Dallas has won a season high-tying five straight since that loss and leads the division by two points over Phoenix with a game in hand.

Dallas' current point streak is the club's longest since it went 9-0 with three ties from Dec. 27-Jan. 22 during the 2002-03 season. The current run was extended on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves for his third shutout of the season and 20th of his career. He helped Dallas equal its longest winning streak of the season set during October and the franchise now hopes to win six in a row for the first time since Nov. 24-Dec. 4 of last season.

"[The Ducks] have really skilled guys and we were able to contain them from getting good chances and that made it easier for me," said Lehtonen.

Michael Ryder matched a career high by scoring his 30th goal of the season, an empty-net tally that gave him 11 points over a nine-game point streak, while Dallas captain Brenden Morrow returned from an 18-game absence caused by an upper-body injury to score.

Morrow's second-period game-winner helped to cancel out the three penalties he took in the victory.

"I was a little bit nervous, I guess, to make sure I didn't screw things up the way the team was playing and rolling," said Morrow. "Kari made sure I didn't do that sitting in the penalty box three times."

Dallas also picked up its fifth straight road win despite playing without defenseman Sheldon Souray due to a lower-body issue suffered in a shootout win over the Sharks on Thursday. Forward Radek Dvorak, meanwhile, left Sunday's win with a lower-body issue and is questionable for tonight.

Dallas has won eight of 10 and 13 of its past 17 meetings with Minnesota, but the Wild have won two straight and four of the past six encounters at home. That includes a 5-2 triumph in the lone meeting there so far this season on Jan. 21, one in which the Wild set a franchise record for the quickest three goals scored. They did so over a 59-second span in the second period, getting tallies from Cal Clutterbuck, Chad Rau and Kyle Brodziak.

Offense wasn't the problem for the Wild on Sunday in a 4-3 loss to the Flames. Despite a pair of goals from Erik Christensen 2:20 apart to tie the game in the third and another goal from Devin Setoguchi with 1:04 remaining in the game, Minnesota lost for the sixth time in seven games and now sits 10 points out of a playoff spot.

The Flames and Wild both scored three goals in the third period and Minnesota netminder Matt Hackett made 21 saves in defeat.

"It's unfortunate we had those little lapses," said Christensen, whose two goals were his first points with the Wild in 16 games since being acquired from the Rangers.

"We're trying to stay real positive. Being negative and being uptight is not going to get us back in the race. We'll look at the tape (Monday) and learn from it and move on. There were some good things in the game."

Minnesota lost the opener of a five-game homestand.






Related News