Stars at Senators
The Dallas Stars have been chasing Minnesota for third place in the Central Division but a recent tailspin suddenly has left their hold on a wild-card spot tenuous at best. The Stars will try to put an end to a three-game slide (0-2-1) when they resume their six-game road trip with a visit to the Ottawa Senators on Friday night.
Dallas is only one point clear of ninth-place Anaheim after dropping five of its last six games (1-3-2), a swoon that started with a 3-2 overtime loss to Ottawa on March 5. “We need to find more consistency," Stars center Tyler Seguin told reporters following Wednesday's 6-5 shootout loss at Toronto. "We’ve got 10 games left, 11 games left. ... We need to find some results right now.” Ottawa is next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, but is showing no signs of rolling over, ending Florida's eight-game home winning streak on Monday before sinking Atlantic Division-leading Tampa Bay 24 hours later. “We’ve got to know where we’re going and that’s why all these games are so important," Senators coach Guy Boucher told reporters. "We’ve got to make some decisions here and we’ve got to know what we want to grow here. The guys have got to fit the culture.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Southwest Plus (Dallas), RDS, TSN5 (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE STARS (38-26-7): Goaltender Ben Bishop was hurt in the loss to Ottawa, forcing Kari Lehtonen to start the past five games. "This is a lot to ask a goalie who has been a backup all year, and he's got to step in and play all these games," coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters. "That's pretty obvious. I mean, it's been a tough go for him. He's like the rest of our team - we're running on fumes right now." Seguin has amassed 17 points in 11 games, including two goals in the setback against the Senators.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (25-33-11): Matt Duchene finally is looking like the player Ottawa was expecting when it acquired him from Colorado earlier this season, piling up eight goals and eight assists over the past 15 games with back-to-back two-point contests. Mike Hoffman made it four consecutive seasons with at least 20 goals after he converted twice in the victory over Tampa Bay. "Each season that's what I expect myself to do, that's why I'm on this team, to put pucks in the net," Hoffman told the media.
OVERTIME
1. Seguin has scored eight goals in 11 games and needs one more to eclipse his career high of 37.
2. Ottawa, which has won three in a row in the series, is seeking its first three-game win streak since Oct. 10-14.
3. Dallas has allowed opponents to convert on 5 of 11 chances on the power play over the last three games.