The Stars had the answer to the question of whom they would play in the first round of the playoffs. That would be the Anaheim Ducks.

The question now is where will the series start? The Ducks still lead the Stars in the race for the fourth seed and home ice in round one by three points and both teams have two games left.

There was an answer to what kind of specialist defenseman Sergei Zubov was seeing. It was Dr. Ulrike Muschaweck, a hernia specialist in Germany. The doctor performed a procedure on Zubov to  "address lingering problems from a sports hernia injury."

The question now is how long will he be out? The Stars weren't saying much other than they were hoping for a speedy recovery. At the beginning of Thursday night's game broadcast, analyst Daryl Reaugh said the hope is he would return within a month. Time will tell.

There was an answer as to what's up with Brad Richards. He's not feeling well, but no specific reason as to why. He was discounting the idea that it had something to do with the mononucleosis he played through earlier this season in Tampa Bay.

And Mike Ribeiro missed Thursday's game with flu-like symptoms. And there is no answer as to whether Ribeiro or Richards will be ready to go Friday.

Another question was could the Stars win without Richards and Ribeiro, and with Marty Turco getting the night off Thursday in Glendale? The answer to that one was yes.

The Stars threw out a solid effort Thursday night in Glendale, built a 3-0 lead and then made it interesting in the third period by surrendering two late goals, but they got the win.

"We had some guys who haven't played a lot lately play very well for us," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We did enough to win tonight. That's a positive sign.

"It was one of those games we knew it was going to have to be a working game with who we had out of the lineup and our guys worked pretty hard."

One of those guys who hadn't played lately was goalie Johan Holmqvist, who saw just his second start since being acquired from Tampa Bay along with Richards at the trade deadline. The first start didn't go well and he didn't get much help from his teammates in that one. It was different this time. The Stars played well in front of him and Holmqvist was sharp.

"I thought Holmqvist was strong," said Tippett. "Nothing fancy, just very steady."

Said Holmqvist: "I felt good out there. It's been a while since I played but it didn't really feel that way."

The Stars got a couple of power play goals from Matt Niskanen and Stephane Robidas to take the lead in the second and then Brenden Morrow capitalized on a Phoenix turnover late in the second period to make it a 3-0 game. It got a little tight when Phoenix scored two late goals, but Mike Modano sealed it with an empty net tally in the final minute.

"It got a little scrambly but we did enough to win," said Tippett.

And that was enough to guarantee the Stars would finish no lower than fifth in the West and would be looking at a first round date with the Ducks.

"You have to be careful what you wish for. Any one of those teams are tough," said Morrow. "We've had some great games against that team. You're going to have to go through them at some point. We'll have to do it in the first round. We're trying to build our game to make sure we are at the top our game for that first game."