Blues at Stars
The Dallas Stars squandered a chance to move into third place in the Central Division, absorbing a 6-0 beating by Vancouver in their most lopsided loss of the season. With four days off to regroup from the shellacking at home, Dallas will try to wrest third place from St. Louis when it hosts the division-rival Blues on Friday night.
The Stars had won five in a row and were coming off a shootout win over two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh before they were flattened by Vancouver -- the second-worst team in the Western Conference. "We got embarrassed in our building. It's frustrating. It's disappointing," acknowledged captain Jamie Benn of Dallas, which trails the Blues by two points with two games in hand. St. Louis will be trying to rebound from a crushing defeat of a different kind, blowing a three-goal, third-period lead in a 4-3 overtime loss at Central-leading Nashville on Tuesday night. The Blues had won five in a row in the series, including the first two meetings this season, before the Stars ended the streak with a 4-2 win on Dec. 29 in Dallas.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE BLUES (34-21-4): Alex Steen stayed hot when he scored once and set up another tally against the Predators to give him 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) over his past 13 games. Steen, who has two assists in two matchups versus the Stars this season, said he struggled to find his touch after suffering a broken thumb in the preseason when he was slashed by Dallas' Antoine Roussel. Vladimir Tarasenko has scored in four consecutive games against the Stars and has 13 tallies in 21 games against them.
ABOUT THE STARS (33-20-4): Coach Ken Hitchcock, fired a year ago by St. Louis, could get a key cog back on his blue line with the expected return of defenseman Marc Methot, who has appeared in one game since Nov. 6 due to a knee injury. "It really is like adding a really good player at the trade deadline," Stars forward Jason Spezza said. "He's a guy who knows how to be calm when the pressure is the highest." Forward Martin Hanzal sat out Thursday's practice but Hitchcock said he'll be in the lineup Friday.
OVERTIME
1. Blues D Jay Bouwmeester sat out practice Thursday but is expected to appear in his 1,100th career regular-season game.
2. Stars D John Klingberg, the top scoring blue-liner in the league, has five points in his last five versus the Blues.
3. St. Louis acquired F Nikita Soshnikov from Toronto in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick.