Stars hope to continue winning ways against Anaheim

The Dallas Stars aim for their third straight win and fourth in the last five games when they take on the Anaheim Ducks tonight at Honda Center.
Mike McKenna will get the start in goal for the Stars. McKenna is coming off a solid performance Tuesday when he took over for an injured Kari Lehtonen late in the first period. With the Stars down 2-0, McKenna, who was playing in his first NHL game since Feb. 2015, stopped all 17 shots he faced allowing the Stars to rally for a 4-2 victory.
He came off the bench cold last game, this time he gets the start with plenty of notice.

GAME DAY CENTRAL: [What to watch for as Stars face Ducks]
"Not a lot (difference), really," McKenna said. "It's just kind of adapting your morning warm-up and your warm-up during the game. Otherwise, you just approach every game the same way, so whether you are playing or not, it is not a big change."
Lehtonen is recovered from the injury and ready to play, but Stars coach Ken Hitchcock has opted to give McKenna the start against Anaheim.

"He's looked sharp. He looked sharp yesterday (in practice), and he looked really sharp today," said Hitchcock. "What the heck. Sometimes there's just an opportunity where people have earned the right to start a hockey game. We're going to go and do what we've done.
"We've played hard for an extended period of time, we're not going to change, and hopefully, Mike is like everybody else, and he is able to get the job done."
Hitchcock is expected to go with the same lineup that he used at the end of Tuesday's win in San Jose where the Stars made a big push in the third period. That lineup had Brett Ritchie moving to the top line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov skating on a line with Remi Elie and Radek Faksa.
The Dallas coach changed his pairings on defense as well, reuniting Esa Lindell and John Klingberg, putting Marc Methot and Greg Pateryn together and having Julius Honka skate with Dan Hamhuis.
Tonight's game is the next-to-last game for the Stars (41-31-8), who close out the season Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Ducks Watch

Ryan Miller is the expected starter in goal for the Ducks (42-25-13) tonight. Miller stopped 26 shots in his first start since Mar. 9 Wednesday as the Ducks clinched a playoff spot with a 3-1 win over Minnesota. The Ducks are currently in the first wild-card spot in the West, one point behind Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division and three points behind San Jose for second place with a game in hand on both teams.

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Tonight's Game

Who:Dallas Stars at Anaheim Ducks
Where: Honda Center
When: 9:00 p.m.
TV: NBCSN
Radio:The Ticket 1310 AM/96.7 FM

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Stars Projected Lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Brett Ritchie
Remi Elie - Radek Faksa - Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel - Jason Spezza - Mattias Janmark
Gemel Smith - Devin Shore - Tyler Pitlick
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Marc Methot - Greg Pateryn
Dan Hamhuis - Julius Honka
Mike McKenna
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched:Dillon Heatherington
Injured: Ben Bishop (knee), Stephen Johns (possible concussion), Martin Hanzal (back)

Ducks Projected Lineup

Rickard Rakell - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie - Adam Henrique - Ondrej Kase
Jason Chimera - Derek Grant - J.T. Brown
Josh Manson - Hampus Lindholm
Francois Beauchemin - Brandon Montour
Marcus Pettersson - Andy Welinski
Ryan Miller
Reto Berra
Scratched: Antoine Vermette, Korbinian Holzer, Chris Kelly, Troy Terry
Injured: Patrick Eaves (illness), Kevin Bieksa (hand), Cam Fowler (shoulder), John Gibson (upper body)
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.