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Stars hope to end road slide against Capitals

Nov 30, 2006 - 1:31 PM Dallas (16-8-0) at Washington (9-9-6) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - The road has not been kind to the Dallas Stars of late. But they undoubtedly will welcome a visit to the nation's capital.

The Stars, who have lost three straight games away from home, look to end the skid Thursday, when they take on the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center.

Dallas was on the verge of ending its road slide at two games Wednesday before Finns Tony Salmelainen and Tuomo Ruutu scored third-period goals to lift Chicago to a 2-1 victory. The loss, which halted the Stars' unbeaten streak against the Blackhawks at 15 games, also ended the dominance of goaltender Marty Turco, who entered the game with a lifetime mark of 11-0-1 vs. Chicago.

With one unbeaten streak finished, the Stars hope to continue another run against the Capitals. Dallas has not lost in regulation to Washington since 1998-99, going 7-0-2 in the last nine meetings between the teams - including a 2-0-1 mark on the road.

Turco, who has dropped each of his last three decisions, also brings a perfect career record (3-0-0) against Washington into Thursday's contest. However, coach Dave Tippett could call upon rookie backup Mike Smith, who is 5-1-0 with two shutouts this season and has won three straight starts.

While Dallas has managed just one goal in each of its last two games, Washington is hoping to build off its five-tally outburst at Tampa Bay on Tuesday that ended a six-game skid in which it failed to score more than twice in any contest.

The Capitals received goals from five different players against the Lightning. Alexander Semin returned after missing four games with a shoulder injury to score his ninth of the season and fellow Russian Alexander Ovechkin extended his goal-scoring streak to three games with his team-leading 16th tally.

As good as Turco has been against Washington, Capitals netminder Olaf Kolzig has struggled vs. Dallas. In 11 career meetings with the Stars, the former Vezina Trophy winner is 0-9-1 with a 3.50 goals-against average.