"We came into tonight and wanted to play a solid road game, the guys haven't skated much in the last three days," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We found enough goals to win. We battled hard enough to keep enough out of our net."

The Stars got the timely goals and the timely saves. The Canucks didn't. That added up to a 4-3 win that didn't seem quite as close as the score indicated. That's because the Stars seemed to hold an advantage in several areas, except for shots on goal.

Goaltending? A distinct advantage to the Stars here. Marty Turco was superb, making some highlight reel saves in the game.

"Basically he won the game for us tonight," said Tippett. "He was the difference."

Turco came up big throughout the game, especially early in the game when the Canucks came out with a strong push. And he came up big later in the game as well.

"He's been really good," said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. "He made a couple of really big saves early in the third and late in the third too. You have to give him credit, he's been good for us this year and again tonight he proved it.

"It was a good win for us."

With Roberto Luongo still in Florida, where he will join the Canucks for their next game, the Canucks went with backup Curtis Sanford. The Stars didn't miss Luongo.

"He's one of the top five in the world, so whenever he's in Florida it's a good thing for us,'' Stars center Mike Modano said about the absence of Luongo.

Sanford didn't last long, getting pulled early in the second period after giving up three goals on 12 shots. One of those shots was a Modano slap shot from just inside the blue line.

"It's embarrassing to get pulled in front of your own fans,'' Sanford said. [Coach Alain Vigneault] had to do that. If I was in his position I would have done the same thing.''

Vigneault's response when asked if his team would have won the game with Luongo in net: "If, if if."

Special teams? Advantage Dallas. The Stars were 1-3 on the power play and they were a perfect 6-6 on the penalty kill and scored shorthanded, which turned out to be the game-winner.

The physical game? Edge to Dallas. The Stars were physical from the start and leading the charge was Mike Ribeiro, who delivered some big hits including big ones on Trevor Linden and Mike Weaver.

The Stars gave up a couple of goals late and that turned their 4-1 lead into a 4-3 game, which made it interesting.

"It's not the way you draw it up, coughing up a couple in the third period. We kind of sat back, but credit to them for really pushing forward and making things happen," said Turco. "Points are important, so we'll take it."

And the two points were big for the Stars. They kept pace with the San Jose Sharks, a winner over Edmonton Tuesday night, atop the Pacific Division.

"After tonight we have 28 games left. We talked about it as a team this morning, we have to put things in place for a strong stretch drive," said Tippett. "The standings are very important and every point is going to be very valuable."

The Canucks, who haven't won in regulation since January 3rd, find themselves one point ahead of three teams tied for eighth place in the West and only two points ahead of 11th place Nashville.

Stars forward Jere Lehtinen missed his 33rd straight game Tuesday night due to a sports hernia, but that streak shouldn't hit 34 games. At least that is the hope.

Lehtinen, who practiced with the team Monday in Frisco and then again Tuesday morning in Vancouver, should be ready to go Friday in Edmonton.

Stars coach Dave Tippett said the team wanted to give Lehtinen a few more days of work before putting him back in the lineup.

"He's getting close. He's right there," Tippett said. "He's a fine tuned athlete and he needs to be 100 percent to play. We felt like an extra day today would give him two more days of practice. He pushed himself pretty good in practice this morning. I think we should see him in there Friday."

With Lehtinen, Sergei Zubov (groin/foot) and Philippe Boucher (shoulder) missing Tuesday's game, the Stars have now lost 121 man-games to injury this season.