---= - - =---
---= - - =---
oops, i farted with the rec, now is 15 - 10 - 3.......
The Dallas Stars hope to move back into the National Hockey
League penthouse tonight when they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to AmericanAirlines Center.
Dallas, with 89 points, is one behind Ottawa for the best record in the league, and the Stars hold a game in hand. However, the Stars are also just one point ahead of Vancouver in the Western Conference race.
On Sunday, Dallas ended a two-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh to open a four-game homestand. Jason Arnott scored twice, including an empty-netter, and Jere Lehtinen also tallied, while Ron Tugnutt made 19 saves.
Lehtinen stretched his points streak to five games (4g, 1a) and goal-scoring run to four. He has posted a career-high 27 goals this season.
Dallas played its second straight game without All-Star Bill Guerin, who is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season with a severely bruised thigh that required emergency surgery over the weekend.
With a win tonight the Stars, 18-3-7-1 in their last 29 games, can surpass last year's point total of 90 points. The franchise record for most points in a season is 114, set during the Stanley Cup-winning 1998-99 campaign.
Dallas, 2-0-2 in its last four home tilts, will host Nashville on Friday.
Chicago, meanwhile, has lost seven straight games (0-5-0-2), the last two in overtime. On Sunday the Hawks dropped a 3-2 decision to Colorado, as the Avs' Alex Tanguay provided the heroics. Alexei Zhamnov had tied the match with three seconds left in regulation.
Zhamnov finished with two goals for the Blackhawks, while Jocelyn Thibaultmade 26 saves.
Chicago is expected to remain without the services of winger Eric Daze, who did not accompany the team to Big D. He has missed three games with an infected ankle.
The Blackhawks, with 63 points, have dipped to 12th in the Western Conference and sit seven behind eighth-place Edmonton. They would also have to leap Phoenix, Los Angeles and Nashville to secure the final postseason berth. Chicago, which has lost three of its last four away from home, will hostCalgary on Friday.
Dallas is 3-0 against Chicago this season, and 4-0-1 in the last five meetings
overall. The Hawks have lost in consecutive trips to Big D.
