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Sliding Stars head to Detroit

Jan 29, 2013 - 4:12 PM (Sports Network) - The Dallas Stars try to put the brakes on a three-game losing streak Tuesday night as they battle the last team they beat, the hosting Detroit Red Wings.

The Stars are 0-2-1 in their past three games and are coming off Monday night's 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves, but gave up the go-ahead goal early in the third period on a tough angle.

Jamie Benn made his season debut for Dallas, registering an assist on a Philip Larsen power-play marker in the second period. Benn missed the start of the season as an unsigned restricted free agent before agreeing to a five-year, $26.25 million contract last week.

Dallas fired 11 shots on net in the third, but could not net the equalizer. It also lost despite keeping Columbus scoreless on seven power plays. The Stars are a perfect 14-for-14 in killing off penalties on the road this season.

They have also opened up the season with six straight one-goal games, but have been unable to pull out some close wins over the past week.

"We got to find ways to win those games and right now we're not," said Dallas forward Vernon Fiddler.

The Stars haven't won since a 2-1 victory over the hosting Red Wings on Jan. 22. Michael Ryder scored both goals for Dallas, while Lehtonen made 39 saves before losing his shutout bid with 3.4 seconds remaining.

Rookie Damien Brunner had that goal for Detroit and Jimmy Howard made 30 saves.

The Red Wings had swept their four-game series with the Stars a season ago.

Detroit would like to get back in the win column versus Dallas on Tuesday night and improve on its 2-2-1 record. The Red Wings are coming off a loss, 2-1 in overtime to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

Johan Franzen had a game-tying goal at the 4:30 mark of the third period and Howard made 25 saves before getting beat with 2:15 left in overtime.

Despite the setback, Detroit head coach Mike Babcock was pleased with his team's effort.

"I thought we had lots of opportunity," he said. "We skated hard and competed and got better as the game went on."

Babcock, though, needs his team's power play to get going. Detroit failed on all six of its man advantages versus the Blackhawks and is just 2-for-26 through five games.

Injuries haven't helped as Darren Helm, Mikael Samuelsson, Ian White and Carlo Colaiacovo are all out.

Stars defenseman Aaron Rome missed his team's game on Monday due to the flu and is not expected to play in this game.