The Dallas Stars will try once again to accomplish something they've done only once this season and haven't done in more than a month - win consecutive games.
The Stars will try to make it two wins in a row tonight when they take on the St. Louis Blues tonight at American Airlines Center. The Stars, who are coming off a solid 3-1 win over Philadelphia Saturday, are 1-8-3 in games following a win this season. The last time they won consecutive games was Nov. 10-11 when they won back-to-back games at Calgary and Edmonton. They are 0-5-2 following wins since.
"You have to move onto the next game," said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. "We've been able to move on after the wins, and we've been able to move on after the losses. I think we have to do enough good things, enough of the right things managing the puck to get over the hump."
The Stars are hoping to use Saturday's win over Philadelphia as a building block. In fact, the Stars see their past eight games as something to build on. The record is only 4-4-0, but they've allowed only 16 goals (2.0 per game) and have surrendered just six goals during five-on-five play in that stretch.
"Five-on-five we've been playing a lot better the last eight games," said Stars defenseman John Klingberg. "We are pretty happy with where we are structure-wise with the five-on-five game. We know we can score more goals and that's where we want to be now. If we can score more goals, it will make it easier to win because we are where we want to be defensively."
Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya, who missed part of Saturday's game with a lower-body injury and then missed Monday's practice, took part in this morning's skate. He is a game-time decision for tonight.
"Johnny is going to give it a try in warm-ups, so we'll know after that," Ruff said. "He's a possibility."
Oduya a game-time tonight decision vs. Blues
Niemi expected in goal as Stars look for consecutive wins for first time in more than a month
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