The Bottom Line:
The Dallas Stars defeated the San Jose Sharks 8-2 on Tuesday evening at American Airlines Center, moving their record to 30-26-13 on the season for 73 points. Dallas’ next game will be Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers (7:30 p.m. CT – FOX Sports Southwest; Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket).
 
Stats and Stuff:                            
·         The Stars are 8-4-1 in their last 13 games at American Airlines Center, and 11-5-1 in their last 17.
·         The Stars scored eight goals, their highest offensive output this season. The last time they scored eight goals on an opponent was a 10-2 win over the NY Rangers on Feb. 6, 2009.
·         Seven Dallas players recorded multi-point games, including two 4-point games (Morrow, Ribeiro), and one 3-point game (Richards).
·         The Stars scored two shorthanded goals tonight (Ribeiro, Morrow). The last time the Stars scored two shorties in a game was Nov. 6, 2002 vs. Vancouver (Morrow, Modano).
·         Brenden Morrow tied a career-high with four points (2g, 2a). It was his seventh multi-point game of the season.
·         Mike Ribeiro earned four points (2g, 2 a), one point shy of his career-high of 5 points. He now has seven goals and seven assists in his last 12 games. Two of his points were shorthanded.
·         Brandon Segal tipped home his sixth goal of the season and third goal in the last two games. Along with his assist tonight, he now has back-to-back multi-point games and five goals and three assists in his first seven games as a Star. Segal has four multi-point games since coming to Dallas.
·         Kari Lehtonen earned his first win as a Dallas Star, turning away 45-of-47 shots on goal. He came within four saves of his career-high which happened on March 16, 2009 against the Washington Capitals (49/50).
·         Brad Richards netted his 19th goal of the season and added his 56th and 57th assists, in his team-leading 23rd multi-point game of the season.
·         Trevor Daley picked up two assists on the night and now has three in the last two games. He has four assists in the last four games and 1-4-5 points in the last five games.
·         Toby Petersen scored his ninth goal of the season, a new career high.
·         Steve Ott earned his 13th goal and 14th assist of the season.
·         Loui Eriksson earned his 34th and 35th assists of the season.
·         Nicklas Grossman returned from injury, earning his fifth assist of the season.
·         THREE STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Kari Lehtonen, 2) Mike Ribeiro, 3) Brenden Morrow.

Brenden Morrow:

(On the scoring outburst)

"We did a lot of good things early and we got some bounces to go our way. Kari gave us some confidence, he made some real big saves for us and we snapped the puck around pretty good. I don't know where it came from. Pretty much every scoring opportunity, we seemed to execute."

(On controlling the San Jose power play)

"They're pretty explosive. They throw a lot of pucks at the net and they've got those big guys that can get to the rebounds, but we did a pretty good job keeping them to the outside. When they did get those lanes to get pucks to the net, Kari made the saves and we were able to clear pucks. I think maybe they were fishing a little bit, looking offensive on the power play, and we got some bounces to go our way. We had two shorthanded goals, and we haven't done that all year."

Kari Lehtonen:

(On Dallas getting the first goal)

"That was huge. I've been here now for maybe eight games, and I was thinking before the game that every game, the other team has scored first. It's kind of the mindset - I really wanted to see us score first and that happened, so I think that helped everybody and gave everybody a boost. That helped me a lot also, because we started scoring in the early second period. That was nice."

(On how his back feels)

"It's the best it's been. I don't know if it's 100-percent. I think it needs a few more games, but it was a huge step in the right direction, and it was nice to see that I'm able to play at this level again."

(On knowing he was going to get the start)

"The whole day is totally different when you know you're going to play. I think the first game in Pittsburgh I was a little bit too excited, and it ended up going pretty badly. I was able to be more calm in net, and that really works for me best. I think I gave some rebounds that I wasn't happy about, but it was great to see our guys battling for those and [San Jose] didn't have a lot of second chances."

Mike Ribeiro:

"You need your goaltender to make saves, and he was big for us tonight. We managed to score when we had our chances, but I think overall we didn't give them much 5-on-5, and I think that's important, especially when you're giving up six goals a game like we have since we got back. So it was important to keep it tight and I think we did that."

(On playing with Segal and Morrow)

"[Morrow] has been keeping the puck longer now. [Segal] is right-handed. I always liked to play with a left and right-handed player, because it gives you different space on the ice for them to shoot. We just tried to keep it simple, we played a little bit more behind their net, we put pucks behind their D's and forecheck. I think when you do that, you don't have turnovers, and it's easier to play."

Marc Crawford:

(On Lehtonen)

"I thought we were really good in all areas tonight. It starts with your goaltender, and that was a terrific performance by Kari Lehtonen. I think you see a little bit more of what our organization saw in him. He had a lot more energy tonight. He made that spectacular save on Heatley. The score was 5-2 at that point, but still that was huge. It they get it, it's 5-3 and they're back in it. They're a high scoring team, and he was like that all night. He gave our group confidence."

"It starts and ends with the goaltender. When you goaltender plays good, it gives you a chance. And tonight our goaltender played great."

"Absolutely [we will start Thursday]."

(On playing inspired)

"We were good in a lot of areas tonight. We had guys who paid the price tonight. You start with just the fisticuffs of the two bouts Krys Barch got in. They were pretty inspirational to our group. He fought a very tough customer in Clowe, and then he had the other one with Leach. He did well in both of them and I thought that not oftentimes does a fight really inspire a club, but that did."

Crawford said he had nothing new on Mike Modano, who had an appendectomy yesterday. The official word is indefinite, but the best guess still appears to be two weeks.

With Modano out, Brian Sutherby will be back in the lineup from all appearances.

Kari Lethonen in net, but we already knew that.