Stars at Ducks
The Dallas Stars appeared to have left last season's road woes in their rearview mirror after winning 11 of their first 14 tilts away from the American Airlines Center. The tide quickly turned, however, and the Central Division-leading Stars look to avoid their sixth straight road defeat on Friday when they open a three-game trek against the Anaheim Ducks.
"We're all not happy about how we're playing," said veteran Jason Spezza, who recorded his ninth point in seven contests with an assist in Saturday's 2-1 setback to Minnesota. "We've got to just focus on winning our games and getting back to it." While Dallas is 0-3-2 in its last five road contests, Anaheim improved to 6-2-1 in its last nine and 3-2-0 on its season-high eight-game homestand with a 4-1 triumph over Ottawa on Wednesday. Frederik Andersen made 24 saves versus the Senators to up his mark to 6-3-3 since going winless in his first eight appearances of the season.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest-Plus (Dallas), FS Prime Ticket (Anaheim), RSN
ABOUT THE STARS (29-11-4): Captain Jamie Benn scored his team's lone goal versus the Wild and notched three assists in Dallas' 4-3 victory over Aanheim on Oct. 27. His brother Jordie is expected to return to the lineup after a two-game absence due to a lower-body injury. "Feeling good. It's good to get back on the ice and skate with the fellas," the defenseman told the team's website. "I just needed that couple days just to do a little rehab and get some rest and back to normal."
ABOUT THE DUCKS (18-17-7): Jakob Silfverberg likely was inspired to play against his former team, but the 25-year-old Swede has two multi-point performances in his last three contests. Ryan Getzlaf was also inspired - for a much different reason - as he was demoted in-game versus Ottawa after a failed drop pass resulted in a goal. The captain, who responded with an assist to extend his point streak to three games, scored and set up a goal in the previous encounter with Dallas.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas RW Ales Hemsky will draw back into the lineup after missing six straight games with a lower-body injury.
2. Anaheim has thwarted all 28 short-handed opportunities over the last eight contests.
3. Stars G Antti Niemi is 0-2-1 this month and owns a 5-5-4 mark on the road this season.