Red Wings at Stars
The Dallas Stars appeared poised to make a charge up the standings when they put together a season-high three-game winning streak at the end of last month. However, the reigning Western Conference regular-season champions were unable to maintain the momentum and head into Thursday's matchup against the visiting Detroit Red Wings with one win in their last five contests.
Injuries have tormented Dallas all season and Tuesday's loss was the latest example after defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and Patrick Eaves exited the game with injuries. "We've been doing it all year, since the start of the year," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of the spate of injuries. "I thought the guys worked hard." Thursday's matchup is the final stop of a season-long seven-game road trip for Detroit, which is 1-2-2 in its last five following Tuesday's 4-3 overtime loss at Chicago. Detroit posted a 3-1 home win over Dallas on Nov. 29 to improve to 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings.
TV: 8:30 ET, FSN Detroit, FSN Southwest-Plus (Dallas)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (17-18-6): Detroit did get some healthy bodies back versus Chicago, with Justin Abdelkader returning after sitting out 16 games due to a knee injury and defenseman Mike Green (upper body) back after an eight-game absence. Andreas Athanasiou continues to light up the scoreboard following a benching, scoring in three consecutive games while amassing six points in that span, and has tallied in both games against Dallas. Goaltender Petr Mrazek has lost his last five decisions (0-4-1).
ABOUT THE STARS (17-17-8): Captain Jamie Benn, who won the league's scoring race in 2014-15 and finished second last season, sat out his fourth consecutive game versus Anaheim and was joined on the sidelines by Oleksiak and Eaves. Ruff said he expected Olesiak to "be out a little bit of time," but was more optimistic about Eaves, who was hurt when he was checked into the half-open door to the team's bench. Antti Niemi, who made 36 saves against Anaheim, is 13-3-3 with a 1.91 goals-against average versus Detroit.
OVERTIME
1. Stars F Tyler Seguin, the team's lone All-Star, has five goals and nine points in the last eight games.
2. Detroit's league-worst power play is mired in a 1-for-43 rut over the last 13 games.
3. Dallas has surrendered nine power-play tallies over the past five games.