This is according to a report by KXLY in Spokane, which you can read here. 

Fabian Brunnstrom (ankle) is probably going to be out another 7-10 days. Tippett expects him to be back on the ice in five or six days.

Landon Wilson (upper body) is seeing the doctor today, so there should be an update on him tomorrow.

With Lundqvist looking like he is coming back in there is no plan to call up a forward at this time.

With the defense pretty well set there is no plan to call up Mark Fistric at this time either because he would probably just end up sitting.

Jere Lehtinen and Darryl Sydor had the day off. Lundqvist filled in for Lehtinen on the line with Mike Modano and James Neal, so the practice lines looked like this:

Sutherby-Richards-Eriksson
Ott-Ribeiro-Conner
Neal-Modano-Lundqvist
Barch-Petersen-Parrish

The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has assigned defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy to the Peoria Rivermen in the American Hockey League (AHL).Vishnevskiy was called up by the Stars on Dec. 31, but was a healthy scratch for three games.

Vishnevskiy, 20, has appeared in 32 games for Peoria this season, scoring three goals and nine assists for 12 points, good for second among Rivermen defensemen in assists and points.

Drafted by Dallas in the first round (No. 27 overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Vishnevskiy played for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) last season, scoring 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 45 games. The 5-11, 176-pound defenseman also appeared in 17 playoff games for the Huskies, posting six assists with 16 penalty minutes.

The native of Barnaul, Russia, was named to the QMJHL Second All-Star Team in 2007-08, and he led all QMJHL rookie defensemen in scoring in 2005-06 with 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists). He skated for Russia in the 2006 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge, and participated in the 2006 CHL Top Prospects Game.

World Juniors wrapped up tonight with Canada beating Sweden 5-1 for the gold medal. It was more like 3-1. Canada scored two empty net goals late to round out the scoring. Three Stars prospects played in the tournament.

Jamie Benn won gold with Canada and had four goals and two assists in six games. Most of his scoring came early in the tournament and three of the goals came on the power play. Despite his knack for goal scoring, he was more of a role player for a very talented Canadian team, playing on a WHL line that was a defensive/check/energy trio. He also saw some power play time and some time on the penalty kill. Benn is not only a good offensive player but he is also a very good defensive player, thus the role he played. When James Neal played for Canada two years ago he was a checking line player as well. It’s all about team and winning and that’s what Canada does. Benn and his linemates were solid for Canada in the tournament.

Ondrej Roman had a very good tournament for Czech Repbulic, picking up four goals and four assists in six games. He saw top line duty and was one of their best players in the tournament. He is highly skilled. I’ve seen him at development camp in Frisco and watched him during the Memorial Cup last season, so he was what I expected. Excellent playmaker and he’s got a good shot that he is starting to use more. He’s been playing in the Czech Republic this season. Somebody posted in the comments area of the blog that he is coming over to play with Spokane (WHL) the second half of the season, but I haven’t seen anything official on that and I haven’t really checked on in yet either. (Update: I checked the Spokane newspaper and found this article, which said he was still trying to decide whether to come over to North America again or stay in Europe).

Sergei Korostin had one goal and one assist for the Russians,who took the bronze medal. He played on the fourth and second line. I saw Korostin play some with the Texas Tornado last season and at camp in Frisco, so I knew what to expect from him. He’s got a lot of skill, anticipates plays well and has some good offensive potential, but I still think he likes one end of the ice better than the other, if you know what I mean. He’s in the OHL and is still getting acclimated to North America, so he’s on the learning curve.

Anyway, it was a fun tournament. The Canada-Russia semifinal game was a classic and the Slovaks were an underdog that made things interesting by pulling off a couple upsets.

He tried to make up for lost time at Bungalow 8, flirting with women and hanging with former teammates Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Nigel Dawes and Marcus Nasland.

I found him hanging out with Naslund, who isn’t an ex-teammate, kind of interesting. Didn’t he say the Rangers shouldn’t have spent money on Naslund back in the summer? Naslund hasn’t been spectacular this season, but he is leading the Rangers in goal scoring and is second on the team in points. 

They got down 2-0 again but found a way to win and that’s what it’s all about. They played better than they did in Edmonton, but it was still one of those games that could have gone either way.

The Mike Modano goal set up by James Neal late in the first period was a huge turning point in the game. The Canucks taking a too many men on the ice penalty and then Ryan Kesler taking the roughing penalty on Neal to turn that into a five-on-three along with the Stars being able to execute on the power play was turning point number two.

The goaltending in the game on both sides was very good. Both goalies had some excellent stops, none better than the save Jason LaBarbera made on Mike Ribeiro on the power play in the third period. You can see it in the highlights below. It was a great stop.

I thought LaBarbera had Modano’s shot in the shootout and that would have given Vancouver the win, but it got through him and the Stars stayed alive (not in the NHL highlights), but Neal’s sharp shootout winner is. None of that fancy stuff for Neal. He just came in and shot it by LaBarbera for the win. You have to like that.

The highlights from NHL.com:

That's why picking up two points tonight is important because they'll need those two to keep pace. It doesn't matter how they get the two, they just need to get them. The reason they are in the middle of things right now is because they found a way to get two points more often than not in December. And a big reason for that is they were 4-1 in shootout and OT games in the month. And as much as Dave Tippett wringed his hands about giving away points in those games against Western Conference foes, the Stars picking up the extra points in the OT/shootout wins over Colorado, Phoenix, Columbus and Anaheim were big points even if they gave up a point to the other side. That's because every point, even a single point in your column, is big. Regulation losses, however, are bad under all circumstances.

Stars regulation record vs. OT/shootout record month-by-month:

These were crucial points against a team they came into the game tied with in the standings. The Oilers got the two points and are tied for ninth in the conference and the Stars dropped to 13th. You can look at the points differential and say its not a big deal, but the fact is that this nice run by the Stars since late November (9-5-1) has gained them three points on eighth place and moved them from 15th to 13th. It can be slow going when there are this many teams involved and the standings are packed this tight. That’s why each game is crucial. You can’t afford to slip or what little ground you’ve gained can disappear quickly.

They’ve lost two of three and they need to make sure that doesn’t turn into three of four Sunday night in Vancouver.

On Landon Wilson, the official word from the Stars was that it’s an undisclosed injury and he’ll be evaluated Sunday. On the Oilers postgame show on CHED radio the word was that he suffered a rib injury when he hit the ice hard in that fight with Dustin Penner in the first period. Again, that’s just a radio report from Edmonton and not official. 

Fabian Brunnstrom and Joel Lundqvist did not practice and neither will be going on the trip to Edmonton and Vancouver. Lundqvist did skate after practice.

Coach Dave Tippett said there is no definitive plan yet on how he will use the goaltenders in the back-to-back games with Edmonton and Vancouver Saturday and Sunday.

Here were the forward lines in practice;

Ott-Ribeiro-Parrish
Sutherby-Richards-Eriksson
Neal-Modano-Lehtinen
Barch-Petersnen-Wilson/Conner

The top ten teams were:

1. Detroit
2. San Jose
3. Philadelphia
4. Dallas
5. New Jersey
6. Ottawa
7. Anaheim
8. New York Rangers
9. Montreal
10. Minnesota

Phoenix was at the bottom of the list.

There's no link at this time, but I'll break down some more of the Stars related material when I get some time.