Kari Lehtonen will get the start in goal. Lehtonen is 5-2-0 in his last seven starts -- all on the road -- with a 1.98 goals against average and .929 save percentage.
The Stars (28-19-4) will try to end a two-game skid that has included a 4-1 loss to Toronto going into the All-Star break and a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles coming out of the break.
"You don't come out of it instantly, you crawl your way out of it," Hitchcock said. "When you are going on good times, you probably stay longer than you deserve, but that's the way the league. The first thing we've got to do is start playing better before we can expect to win. That's the way the league is. That's the first step today, let's get playing better because the way we played the last game we didn't give ourselves a chance. That's what we want to do, just give ourselves a chance by playing better."
Even though they've lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since early December, the Stars continue to hold onto the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but the race is a lot tighter. Ninth-place Anaheim is just one point back, 10th-place Colorado is two points back with two games in hand and 11th-place Calgary is two points back with one game in hand.
"From here on out, the rest of the season, every game is going to be a playoff game," said defenseman Greg Pateryn. "There are so many teams within one or two points of each other; no one is safe. Every game is so important, and that is something we have to realize every night. We can't take anything lightly."
