Opening their February schedule after finishing up January with back-to-back road wins, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (23-19-7) return home on Tuesday to take on Patrick Roy's Colorado Avalanche (21-8-11). 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 third of five meetings between the teams this season. The Stars suffered a pair of regulation losses in Denver, dropping a 5-2 match on Nov. 29 and a 4-3 decision on Jan. 10.
The Stars enter this game coming off a 6-3 win in Ottawa last Thursday and a 5-2 victory in Winnipeg on Saturday night. In Saturday's game, the Stars' power play exploded for four goals: Patrick Eaves, Jason Spezza, Shawn Horcoff and John Klingberg. Named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for January, Klingberg also scored an even-strength goal. Kari Lehtonen stopped 38 of 40 shots to earn the win in goal.
On the Stars injury front, Erik Cole (upper body) is questionable but practiced yesterday on Spezza's line with Ales Hemsky. Valeri Nichushkin (hip surgery) and Patrik Nemeth (severe forearm laceration from a skate cut) remain on injured reserve but are making progress, according to Stars Inside Edge.
The Avalanche enter this game coming off a 23-save shutout win for Semyon Varlamov on Friday night. Colorado downed the visiting Nashville Predators, 3-0, on goals by Max Talbot, Jarome Iginla and Gabriel Landeskog (empty net).
Colorado still has a lengthy injury list: Patrick Bordeleau (knee), Erik Johnson (knee), Jamie McGinn (back), Borna Rendulic (leg), Ryan Wilson (shoulder) and Jesse Winchester (concussion) all remain out of the lineup. Iginla took a maintenance day from practice on Monday but is expected to play against the Stars. Alex Tanguay (bruised hand) is also probable for the Avs.