PREVIEW 8:35 AM CST

Coming off a dismal 5-1 home loss to Edmonton on Thursday, the Dallas Stars (10-9-2) face a tough test this afternoon when the St. Louis Blues (11-7-2) and former Cup-winning Stars coach Ken Hitchcock pay a visit to the American Airlines Center. The game starts at 2:00 p.m. CST and will be broadcast nationally on NHL Network and locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season. On Jan. 29, the Stars were unable to build on an early 2-1 lead, and succumbed to a three-goal onslaught by St. Louis in the middle period to drop a 4-3 decision in regulation.

Neither Jamie Benn (unsigned at the time) nor Jaromir Jagr (injured at the time) played in that game, but Dallas got goals from Tomas Vincour, fourth liner Ryan Garbutt and the since-traded Michael Ryder. The Blues got a pair of goals from David Perron and individual tallies from Wade Redden and Chris Stewart.

Last game, Dallas had its franchise record-tying streak of scoring three or more goals in 11 straight games snapped. Meanwhile, the club continued a less favorable trend of having yielded four or more goals in six of eight games (three or more in seven of eight).

Today's game marks Kari Lehtonen's second back back from a two-week absence due to a groin pull. He was not particularly sharp in the game against Edmonton but should round back into form in the next game or two.

St. Louis has had its ups and downs after a strong start to the lockout-shortened season. The Blues are 5-3-2 over their last 10 games but are coming off a 4-2 win over Edmonton. St. Louis, which can be dominating defensively when it is playing the way Hitchcock preaches, limited the Oilers to a combined 10 shots over the final two periods.

On the Dallas injury front, Philip Larsen (head), Aaron Rome (foot) and Ray Whitney (foot) are out for today's game. For St. Louis, Alexander Steen (upper body) was just placed on IR, while Andy McDonald (knee) and Vladimir Tarasenko (concussion) are also out.


PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

STARS

10 Brenden Morrow - 14 Jamie Benn - 68 Jaromir Jagr
72 Erik Cole- 11 Derek Roy - 21 Loui Eriksson
18 Reilly Smith- 20 Cody Eakin - 25 Matt Fraser
24 Eric Nystrom - 38 Vernon Fiddler - 40 Ryan Garbutt

4 Brenden Dillon - 3 Stephane Robidas
43 Jamie Oleksiak - 33 Alex Goligoski
58 Jordie Benn - 6 Trevor Daley

32 Kari Lehtonen
[31 Richard Bachman]


BLUES (Per dailyfaceoff.com)

57 David Perron - 42 David Backes - 74 T.J. Oshie
9 Jaden Schwartz - 21 Patrik Berglund - 36 Matt D'Agostini
17 Vladimir Sobotka -32 Chris Porter - 25 Chris Stewart
79 Adam Cracknell - 12 Scott Nichol - 75 Ryan Reaves

6 Wade Redden - 27 Alex Pietrangelo
5 Barret Jackman - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk
4 Kris Russell - 46 Roman Polak

41 Jaroslav Halak / 1 Brian Elliott

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