Fri Feb 22 10:58:36 2008

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Stars welcome Oilers to Big D

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(Sports Network) - The Dallas Stars will try to rebound from just their second loss in 11 games when they welcome the Edmonton Oilers for tonight's matchup at American Airlines Center.

The Stars had won seven in a row recently, but have since lost twice in their last four games. Dallas is still first in the Pacific Division with 79 points and is four ahead of second-place Anaheim.

Dallas was handed a close setback Wednesday by visiting Calgary, as Jarome Iginla scored with 2:27 remaining in the third period to lift the Flames to the 3-2 decision.

Iginla's game-wining tally started when Daymond Langkow won a race to the puck at the end boards. He turned and dished to Iginla, who was all alone in front of the crease and rammed the puck past Marty Turco.

Niklas Hagman and Mattias Norstrom lit the lamp for Dallas, which had a two- game win streak snapped. The Stars are still 8-2 in the month of February.

Turco stopped 15-of-18 shots in Wednesday's loss, as he surrendered three goals or more for just the third time in his last 12 starts.

Tonight's test is the finale of a three-game homestand for the Stars, who are 19-10-2 as the host this season and have won four of their last five tests in Big D.

The Oilers, meanwhile, have lost two straight games and are 14th out of 15 Western Conference teams with just 59 points on the year.

Edmonton's latest setback came in Tuesday's wild contest in Nashville. J.P. Dumont scored the game-winning goal with 1:55 remaining in regulation to lift the Predators to a 5-4 win at the Sommet Center.

The Predators led 3-1 early in the second period only to watch Edmonton charge back with three straight tallies in the middle stanza. However, the Oilers took a 4-3 edge with 4:37 left only to watch Nashville tie the game just 23 seconds later.

Fernando Pisani, Marty Reasoner, Denis Grebeshkov and Sam Gagner scored for the Oilers. Mathieu Garon turned aside 23 shots in the loss.

Gagner currently has a seven-game points streak and the 18-year-old rookie has notched two goals and eight assists over that span.

Edmonton, which is just 12-15-4 as the visitor this season, is completing a four-game road trip this evening. The Oilers have dropped seven of 10 and 10 of their last 14 road tilts.

Dallas is 3-0 against the Oilers this year and can complete the season sweep with a victory tonight. Overall, the Stars have taken five straight, eight of nine and nine of the last 11 meetings with Edmonton.

The Oilers have also dropped two in a row and three of their last four tilts in Dallas.