The Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars, the two top teams in the West, meet this afternoon on NBC in the Game of the Week.
The Wings won both of the previous meetings, beginning with a 4-1 decision on January 2nd and continuing with a 3-0 shutout on January 5th. The fourth and final meeting will take place on March 13th in Detroit.
The puck drops at 3:30 ET.
The 36-21-5 Stars are 7-1-0 in February, with their only loss coming on the 14th in Phoenix. The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak that went back to January and included wins over Vancouver (twice), Edmonton, Calgary, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Phoenix.
The night after their loss to the Coyotes, they put down the Ducks in Anaheim, 4-2. They are kicking off a three-game homestand this afternoon.
Dallas leads the Pacific Division with 77 points. Anaheim and San Jose have 71 and 70 respectively. They are ten points behind the Wings for the League lead and are four points ahead of Ottawa for second place overall.
Mike Ribeiro leads the team in assists (43) and points (67), but his 24 goals are tied with Brendan Morrow. Six other Stars have 10 or more goals: Niklas Hagman (20), Mike Modano (16), Jussi Jokinen (14), Antti Miettinen (12), Jeff Halpern (10), and Steve Ott (10).
The Stars will be without Sergei Zubov (groin/foot) and Phillippe Boucher (shoulder).
Mark Fistric (face laceration) is scheduled to play.
The starter has not been announced, but it looks like Marty Turco is a good bet.
For the Stars' perspective, see Andrew’s Stars Page (preview here), Razor with an Edge (official), Stars Blog (Dallas Morning News), and Stars Scene.
The Wings fell to 3-4-1 in the month of February with their fifth straight loss Friday night. In what was supposed to be a recovery game, they got shellacked at home by the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-1.
Rather than gradual improvement, the team's play has seemingly fallen off more with every game they've played lately. As recently as a week ago, they looked like they could pull out a win. With bad losses to Nashville and Columbus, however, this team has never looked less like the dominant force it has been most of the season.
Today's game kicks off a five-game stretch of road games, though they will return home following tomorrow night's game in Denver. After that, they don't play again until Friday in Calgary.
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