Stars at Canucks
The Dallas Stars are staggering toward the finish line and on the verge of a first to near-worst finish in the Western Conference. The No. 1 seed in the West last season, Dallas had dropped three in a row in ugly fashion and continues its four-game road trip against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
The Stars have been outscored 17-4 during their three-game skid as they come off a 7-1 thrashing at Edmonton on Tuesday. "That might be the worst game I have coached as a Dallas Star," coach Lindy Ruff told reporters. "We need a lot more from the leaders of our team." Vancouver also is unraveling down the stretch, dropping the first four contests of its five-game road trip that ends against one of its biggest nemeses. The Canucks snapped a 10-game losing streak against Dallas with a 5-4 overtime road win on Nov. 13, but the Stars avenged that loss with a 2-1 victory in Vancouver 12 days later to extend their point run in the series to 12 games (11-0-1).
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE STARS (27-32-10): Dallas has surrendered the most goals in the league, and its offensive shortcomings have been magnified on the first two stops of the road trip with a 5-1 loss at San Jose preceding the drubbing in Edmonton. "It's embarrassing, is the word to use," forward Patrick Sharp told reporters. "I'm embarrassed. I'd like to think that my teammates are embarrassed as well." Kari Lehtonen was yanked in each of his last two starts and Antti Niemi was pulled in his last turn.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (28-32-9): Markus Granlund is thriving on a line with the Sedin twins, scoring twice in Monday's 6-3 loss to Boston to give him five goals in his last eight games. Granlund, whose previous career highs were eight tallies and 18 points in 2014-15 with Calgary, boosted his season totals to 19 and 31. "He's done a great job. To see where he is now compared to last year, that bodes well for this team going forward," captain Henrik Sedin told reporters. "It's been fun playing with him."
OVERTIME
1. Stars C Tyler Seguin has recorded six goals and 13 assists in 13 career games against the Canucks.
2. Granlund scored the game-winner in overtime in Vancouver's win over the Stars in November.
3. Dallas signed free-agent D Gavin Bayreuther out of St. Lawrence University.