Kari Lehtonen

STARS (9-10-6) at AVALANCHE (9-12-1)
TV: 9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-SW+, NHL.TV

Stars team scope

Goaltender Kari Lehtonen is expected to start for the Dallas Stars, who are 0-2-1 after three games of a four-game road trip. He's lost three consecutive games since Nov. 17 when he made 34 saves in a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche. The Stars placed forward Patrick Sharp on injured reserve Saturday, retroactive to Dec. 1. Sharp played in the past seven games after missing 14 when he was injured Oct. 20 against the Los Angeles Kings. "He has concussion symptoms," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We don't know if it's related to the previous one, but he's going to be evaluated. It's something he missed a long time with, something we want to be real careful with." The Stars had 35 shots on goal in each of their past two games, a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday and a 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. "We've done a lot of good things the last two games," Ruff said. "The score looked ugly in the last game, but it was really a 3-2 game. We took some chances in the end and missed way too many opportunities. I've liked probably five of our last six periods and we've got nothing for it. We've got to change that."

Avalanche team scope

Semyon Varlamov will make his second start in a row for the Avalanche after making 34 saves Thursday in a 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Colorado is 0-3-1 in the first four games of a five-game homestand and 4-7-1 at Pepsi Center. "It's not the homestand that we wanted, but we have an opportunity to finish this thing out at home and get ourselves in the right frame of mind," coach Jared Bednar said. Forward Rocco Grimaldi was recalled Friday from San Antonio of the American Hockey League and will play right wing on a line with left wing Mikhail Grigorenko and center Matt Duchene. Grimaldi, who is 5-feet-6 and 180 pounds, was acquired from the Florida Panthers on June 23 for goalie Reto Berra. He was leading San Antonio in scoring with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 19 games. "My speed is probably my biggest asset," Grimaldi said. "I know they want to play fast here, that's something I can bring. I've always been the shortest guy on every team I've been on, so I'm not going to go in and make huge hits. I just want to be annoying to play against."

Stars projected lineup
Avalanche projected lineup
Status report

McKenzie and Cracknell will return to the lineup and play on the fourth line with Shore in the middle. McKenzie was scratched for six of the past seven games, Cracknell for the past two games. … Landeskog, who was injured Nov. 15 against the Kings, skated briefly Saturday. Bednar said he "probably" would go on a four-game road trip that begins Tuesday against the Nashville Predators if he's cleared to practice Monday.

Who's hot

Seguin has one goal and two assists in a three-game scoring streak. Jamie Benn has three goals and three assists in the past seven games. ... Rantanen has two goals and five assists in the past six games. Bourque has three goals and one assist in the past four games.