Stars 5 - 3 Hurricanes
Final
  for this game

Stars continue trek against Hurricanes

Mar 12, 2015 - 2:45 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Dallas Stars aim to resume a five-game road trip with a second straight victory on Thursday night as they visit the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Stars have won three of their past four games after losing six straight, including a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. Brett Ritchie and Vernon Fiddler had the goals, the latter picking up the game-winner with 6:10 left in regulation.

Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves for Dallas, beating Philadelphia for the first time in 14 career meetings.

"He made the saves when he needed to," said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. "A couple situations when we had break downs, I thought he read the plays right and was right there. The goal that beat him went off our guy so it was a really clean night for him."

The Stars are eight points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference and play the fourth game of their road trip tonight. They conclude the swing on Friday at Washington.

Lehtonen is 7-12-1 with a 3.44 goals against average and .893 save percentage in 21 lifetime encounters with the Hurricanes, while Jhonas Enroth is 3-3-0 in this matchup with a 2.95 GAA and .908 save percentage over six games.

Defensemen John Klingberg and Jason Demers are both game-time decisions tonight for the Stars. Demers did not play on Tuesday due to illness, while Klingberg suffered an upper-body injury during the contest.

Forward Cody Eakin's status for this game is unknown as well after he was held out of the win over the Flyers due to a team discipline issue.

The Hurricanes are coming off Tuesday's 4-3 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who got the lone goal of the tiebreaker from Ryan Johansen.

Johansen, Columbus' third shooter, slowly skated in, patiently waited for Cam Ward to move first and slid the puck past the netminder's pad to put the Blue Jackets ahead. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Jeff Skinner's attempt to seal the outcome.

Defenseman Justin Faulk provided a goal and two assists -- all in the first period -- and Eric Staal and Victor Rask each scored for the Hurricanes, who received 29 stops from Ward while falling to 1-1-1 on a five-game homestand.

Carolina scored a pair of power-play goals, but also allowed three to the Stars.

"They built a game on the road, competed harder and took advantage of their power plays," Carolina head coach Bill Peters said.

Peters' club will conclude its homestand on Saturday versus Florida, with Ward likely to get the start tonight. He is 3-3-1 in his career versus Dallas, posting a 3.57 GAA and .876 save percentage in seven games.

The Hurricanes have beaten the Stars just four times in the previous 13 meetings, but did pick up a second straight victory in this series with a 6-4 road decision on Nov. 18. Staal had two goals and an assist, while Tyler Seguin scored twice for the Stars and Klingberg had a pair of helpers.

Carolina has won seven of its past 10 at home versus Dallas.






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