Stars Notes: Sutherby leaves game with shoulder injury

Sunday, January 31, 2010-10:50:pm
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page                            

Dallas Stars forward Brian Sutherby left Sunday's game in the second period with a shoulder injury and did not return. His status is up in the air.

"Sutherby hurt his shoulder tonight. We'll re-evaluate him tomorrow," said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "He was hit by I think [Shane] Doan. It was contact and it must have hit him just the wrong way. Looking at it on tape it doesn't look like a big collision, but you can see right away that he's in pain."

The Stars had 12 forwards on the roster heading into the game with Jere Lehtinen returning from injured reserve after missing the last six games.

Mike Ribeiro (throat) and Tom Wandell (ACL) are on IR. Ribeiro could return just before the Olympic break or right after. Wandell is out for the rest of the season. 

Tippett returns

Sunday's game was the third for Phoenix coach Dave Tippett against his former team, but the first in Dallas. Tippett, who coach the Stars from 2002 to 2009, was let go last summer after Joe Nieuwendyk took over in Dallas.

"A lot of great friends, a lot of friends that are actually players on that team. I had a great time here," Tippett said. "Seven years is a long time to be in one place. Great memories, but I think they've moved on and I've moved on. I'm really enjoying my days in Phoenix. We've got a real, real good team. They work really hard and it's a really enjoyable time in Phoenix."

So far his Coyotes, who are in fourth place in the Western Conference and second in the Pacific Division, are 3-0-0 against the Stars this season.

Missing out on three in a row again

For the fifth time this season the Stars missed out on a chance to string together a three-game winning streak. They have yet to win more than two consecutive games this season and haven't had a three-game winning streak since January of last year.

Points pace race

The points pace for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference continues to hover around the 93 point.

It slipped a little over the past week, but it is between 92 and 93 points, with Detroit and Calgary still setting the pace.

The Stars, who won two of three over the past week, are on a pace for 88 points.

In order to hit 93 points the Stars would have be seven games over. 500 over their final 27 games. That would mean a record of 17-10-0, 16-9-2, 15-8-4, etc.

If the pace were to drop to 92 points, then they would need to be six games over .500 over the final 27 games. The record would need to be 16-10-1, 15-9-3, 14-8-5, etc.

If the pace were to pick up to 94 points, they'd need to be eight games over .500 over their remaining games. That would mean a record of 17-9-1, 16-8-3, 15-7-5, etc.

Here's a look at Western Conference teams, their points pace and how they've changed over the past week. Teams are ranked with the division leaders getting the top three spots.