Final - 2OT
  for this game

Sliding Sens host Stars

Nov 3, 2013 - 3:39 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Ottawa Senators hope to avoid a season-high fifth straight loss on Sunday afternoon when they play host to a Dallas Stars club that is beginning a three-game road trip.

The Senators have already posted a pair of four-game slides this season. They went 0-2-2 from Oct. 5-13 and recently dropped three straight in regulation before earning a point in Friday's 5-4 shootout setback to the New York Islanders.

It was a busy night for Ottawa backup goaltender Robin Lehner, who made a club-record 53 saves in his third start of the season. After facing 57 shots through overtime, he stopped Thomas Vanek in the first round of the shootout before getting beat by Frans Nielsen to cap the second round.

Bobby Ryan then failed to extend the shootout when his attempt was stopped by the pad of New York's Evgeni Nabokov.

Ottawa failed to hold a pair of two-goal leads in the setback.

"They were very fast, they played with speed, they moved the puck and they shot a lot of pucks," Lehner said of the Isles.

Ryan had a goal and an assist and Clarke MacArthur and Mika Zibanejad added tallies. Erik Condra also scored before suffering a leg injury.

Ottawa is trying to avoid its first five-game slide since March 30-April 9 of last season and is likely to start Craig Anderson today. He is 3-2-0 with a 3.33 goals against average and one shutout in seven career meetings with the Stars, including five starts.

Dallas will also be aiming to rebound from a post-regulation setback having lost 3-2 in overtime to Colorado on Friday. Unlike the Senators, the Stars earned their point by erasing a two-goal deficit on tallies by Alex Goligoski and Tyler Seguin in the third period.

Seguin, who also had an assist, netted his game-tying tally with 3:29 left in regulation and he has six goals and 14 points in 13 games this season.

"Still have to figure out a way to get that full (60-minute) effort," Seguin said after his club lost its second straight and fell to 2-3-2 over the last seven.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 shots for Dallas and is 6-5-0 with a 2.90 GAA in his career versus Ottawa.

The Stars have won three straight over the Senators and are 2-0-1 in their last three trips to Ottawa. Dallas will play on the road in this series for the first time since a 2-1 win on Nov. 24, 2010.