Stars News & Notes: Looking to make it three against the Red Wings

Wednesday, January 28, 2009-11:40:pm
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page                            

When the Dallas Stars play in Detroit Thursday night they'll have a chance to something they haven't done in several years - win a season series against the Red Wings.

The Stars haven't won a season series against Detroit since 2001-02 when they went 2-1-1 and got five points to the four points Detroit got by going 2-2-0. They haven't won three of four against the Red Wings since the 1998-99 season. They were 3-1-0 against Detroit back then.

The Stars are 2-1-0 so far in this season's series and the Red Wings are 1-1-1, so based on points collected bragging rights are still up for grabs.

"We've played two excellent games against them here (in Dallas). It would be nice to win the series against them," said Stars coach Dave Tippett.

The Stars have won both games against Detroit at the American Airlines Center this season, winning 3-1 on December 12 and rallying for a 5-4 overtime win on January 12. But things didn't go well in the first game at Joe Louis Arena on January 8. The Stars lost that one 6-1. The talk before that game was that it was a measuring stick game. This one is no different.

"You always use games like this as a measuring stick and the last time we tried to make that measuring stick, and we went into the The Joe, and they pretty much embarrassed us," said forward Steve Ott. "For us, we're playing a lot better hockey. What's made us successful the past couple weeks is what we have to bring into Detroit."

The Stars have been playing better lately. They went into the All-Star break with a solid 4-1 road win over the Florida Panthers. They came out of the break with a solid 2-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers Tuesday night. They are 4-1-1 in their last six games. 

Tippett said the Stars' better play recently has come down to execution.

"Limiting chance against. Strong territorial hockey. We're trying not to turn it over in the neutral zone and the defensive zone. Trying find as many shots as we can at the net," he said. "Things we talk about all the time, we're finding a way to execute them a little bit better right now."

These will be big points on the line for the Stars, who have moved to within two points of the final playoff spot thanks to a 10-4-3 record over their last 17 games and a 14-7-3 mark over their last 24 contests.

And now they get another chance to see how they stack up against the Red Wings, and maybe take the season series as well.

"Our focus is going to be to go there and play well, continue to play well and find a way to get a win," said Tippett. "If we can get three wins against Detroit, those are points other teams aren't getting. That's something that keeps you moving forward, keeps the momentum going."

Ribeiro on the power play

Although the Stars' power play was 0-5 on Tuesday and missed on a lengthy five-on-three chance, Stars center Mike Ribeiro did see some positives in the team's play with the man-advantage. He felt although they didn't score, they created a lot of chances and kept the game their way with power play.

"We had quicker movement of the puck and a lot more shots at the net, and rebounds," Ribeiro said after Wednesday's practice. "If you don't score, you want to come out it with momentum and keep pushing the game along.

"It's not like they kill and we have to regroup and come back in," he said. "We stayed in there and kept pounding away. ... We had a lot of one-timers from the top of the circles that could have gone straight in or off a rebound."

Prior to Tuesday's game, the Stars were 5-22 (22.7%) on the power play over their previous five contests.

Parrish ailing

Right wing Mark Parrish did practice Wednesday due to a bout with the flu. It's the same reason he missed Tuesday night's game against Atlanta.

"He was supposed to play yesterday but in the afternoon he came down with the bad flu," Stars coach Dave Tippett said following Wednesday's practice. "It was still bad this morning. We won't put him on the plane if he is still sick."

Chris Conner took Parrish's place in Tuesday night's game and Tippett was happy with what Conner brought to the lineup.

"He played well last night. He had some scoring chances," said Tippett. "He plays the game with speed, he tenacious. He was a good player for us."

Practice lines

Here's a look at the practice lines used on Wednesday: