Stars at Avalanche
After a difficult month of January knocked them out of first place in the Central Division, the Dallas Stars attempt to continue their upward swing when they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. Dallas lost eight of its first 10 games last month (2-6-2) before wrapping it up with a triumph over Calgary and kicked off February with a victory at Winnipeg on Tuesday that put it in position for its first three-game winning streak since Dec. 19-22.
The Stars possess two of the league's top three scorers in captain Jamie Benn (second, 58 points) and Tyler Seguin (third, 55), who also rank in the top four in goals with 28 and 27, respectively. Colorado had a much better January, winning five of its last six contests to finish with a 9-5-0 record and in the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but began this month with a 2-1 setback against Central-leading Chicago on Tuesday in the opener of its four-game homestand. Matt Duchene leads the Avalanche with 23 goals but has recorded only one in his last eight games. Colorado won the first two contests of the four-game season series, extending its winning streak against Dallas to eight games.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE STARS (32-14-5): Seguin ended his season high-tying four-game goal-scoring drought with a pair of tallies in the victory over the Jets, putting him three away from his third consecutive 30-goal campaign. Dallas hopes to be at full strength Thursday as defenseman Jordie Benn and Colton Sceviour both could return to the lineup. Jordie Benn has missed four games with a lower-body injury while Sceviour exited Tuesday's contest with an upper-body ailment suffered on a hit by Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (27-23-3): Semyon Varlamov is expected to dress as Calvin Pickard's backup Thursday after missing more than a week to deal with a legal matter. The 27-year-old Russian, who is 19-12-3 with a 2.59 goals-against average, has not played since allowing one goal in a victory at Dallas on Jan. 23. Captain Gabriel Landeskog appears to have rediscovered his scoring touch, scoring four goals over his last four contests after a seven-game drought.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche have won 11 of their last 12 meetings with the Stars.
2. Dallas has surrendered six power-play goals over its last seven games.
3. Landeskog has recorded three goals and two assists versus Dallas this season.