In dire need of two points in the standings. Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (27-25-9) play host to Patrick Roy's Colorado Avalanche (26-24-11) on Friday night. Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:30 p.m. CST. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the fifth and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the second and final game in Big D. The Stars are thus far winless (0-3-1) in the season series.
On Nov. 29 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, the Avs skated to a 5-2 win. On Jan. 10 in Denver, the Avalanche took a 4-3 regulation win. On Feb. 3 at the American Airlines Center, Colorado got the bonus points from a 3-2 shootout win. Rematching in Colorado on Feb. 14, the Avs earned a 4-1 win in regulation.
The Stars enter play on Friday seven points behind Western Conference wildcard teams Los Angeles and Calgary in the standings. Dallas has dropped four games in a row (0-3-1), including a 4-2 loss in Winnipeg on Tuesday.
Dallas trailed Winnipeg early but an Erik Cole goal in the second period briefly forged a 1-1 tie before the Jets soon re-took the lead. Jason Demers scored late in the game for the Stars to cut the final margin to two goals. Jhonas Enroth stopped 21 of 24 shots in a losing cause.
Kari Lehtonen missed Tuesday's start for an undisclosed reason but is expected to start against Colorado. The team is still missing Tyler Seguin (knee), Patrick Eaves (concussion), Travis Moen (upper body) and Valeri Nichushkin (hip surgery). Ales Hemsky (lower body) is probable for Friday's game.
Colorado enters this game coming off a 5-2 loss in Nashville on Tuesday. The Avs got on the board first on a Nathan MacKinnon even strength goal and the game entered the second period tied at 1-1 before the Predators pulled away. John Mitchell scored a late power play goal to cut the final deficit to three goals. Semyon Varlamov stopped 25 of 29 shots in 42:11 of goaltending duty. Reto Berra stopped all 11 shots he saw in relief before a Nashville empty netter.
On the Colorado injury front, the team is missing defensemen Erik Johnson (knee) and Ryan Wilson (shoulder) as well as forwards Patrick Bordeleau (knee), Jamie McGinn (back surgery), Borna Rendulic (leg) and Jesse Winchester (concussion).