Crawford spliting Ribeiro and Morrow

For tonight's Stars game against the Detroit Red Wings, Marc Crawford is going to attempt to put two of the teams best and grittiest players on different lines to extend the scoring threat as the Stars are looking jump start the offense for these two players that are expected to be a big part of any success this season.

For both Ribero and Morrow, they have just 2 goals combined and a -12 with a 2-3-2 record during that time span, in addition to the record, the Stars haven't scored more then 2 goals in regulation during the time span.

Currently in 8th place heading into tonight, the Stars need to start making some headway as the Pacific Division is going to be very strong this year, especially keeping with the Sharks who had a 11 game point streak snapped with a 4-3 loss to Nashville last night.

"You just can't win like that, not in this league, so you make changes". Said captain Brendan Morrow. "When things aren't working, you have to try something else. They will try to put a line of Brendan Morrow, Mike Modano and rookie Jamie Benn, this will attempt to spur some rebound attempts from Modano and Benn.

For Mike Ribero, he will be playing with Jere Lehtinen who's returning from injury tonight along with with Steve Ott. This will hope to bring some physicality to attempt to slow down the speedy style of play by the Detroit Red Wings.

If Ribero and Morrow can work with their new linemates will separate the players and keep Morrow and Ribero fresher longer so they can be more aggressive later in games during critical situations in the 3rd period, plus any OT/SO situations that may come up.

"I just need to finish more," said Morrow. "I'm getting lots of chances, and I feel like I'm around it, but I just have to score more goals. I think it's the extra step and find a way to get puck in the net.

For Mike Ribero, the new system has given him more shots on goal with 47 shots in 19 games so far this season. However, if he wants to find his form that got him 49 goals in the last 2 seasons.

With the Stars inconstantly being a problem so far this season and only won back to back once this season. The Stars need to start working on the little things like getting in rebounds, protecting Marty Turco and Alex Alud which hasn't been that great this season and improving their performances in OT/SO where they have won 2 games when games go beyond 60 minutes so far this season.

Right now, the Stars are in 8th place with 22 points (8-5-6) and are tied with the Vancouver Canucks and Phoenix Coyotes. Within the division they are 3rd by trailing the Los Angeles Kings by 6 points who play the Philadelphia Flyers while the San Jose Sharks having the night off coming off a loss in Nashville last night.

Be sure to look for Twitter Updates during tonights game as The Stars play the Red Wings tonight. You can check it out at www.twitter.com/tanman9

Tonight's NHL Schedule

@HSBC Arena
Florida Panthers VS. Buffalo Sabres 6:00 PM

@Joe Louis Arena
Dallas Stars VS. Detroit Red Wings 6:30 PM

@Xcel Energy Center
Phoenix Coyotes VS. Minnesota Wild 7:00 PM

@Rexall Place
Colorado Avalanche VS. Edmonton Oilers 8:00 PM

@Staples Center
Philadelphia Flyers VS. Los Angeles Kings 9:30 PM

Dallas Stars VS. Nashville Predators Game Summary

It was one of those nights where everything looked to go the Stars way last night. It all started very early when in the first 6 minutes where the Stars scored twice in 40 seconds with Brendan Morrow and Brad Richards got the game going with their first few shots on goal and just torched former Stars goalie Dan Ellis, and got yanked after Loui Eriksson scored to make 3-0 just 6:31 into the game. It was the beginning of a very long night who had beat the Stars in a shootout back on opening night.

Dallas continued the 1st period dominance just where Brendan Morrow scored his 2nd of the game on the PP with a great passing play that was helped set up by Stephane Robidas and Jamie Benn before getting it to James Neal to Brendan Morrow for the easy PP Goal to make it 4-0 Dallas.

In addiditon to the 4 goals early, Marty Turco was very good in net stopping all 29 saves and making some key stops to help maintain momentum throughout the game. Some of the biggest saves which came in the 3rd period where on a Nashville PP where the 3 Predator players just piled on the shots to get something out of the night where Marty Turco helped get his 37th career shutout.

Stephane Robidas said about Turco's great night including "He kept us in the game. Sometimes, a couple of bounces go their way early in the game, it could have made a big difference between a 1-1 game and a 3-0 game." Marty Turco later went on to say, "Finally, it's nice to see everything go our way".

Mentioning about his shutout last night, he was a very important part of the game and is well on his way to his performance from 2007-08 season. So far this year through 5 games, he has a 2.12 GAA and a .913 SV% through his 4 games with Alex Auld winning his 1 and only game so far this year on the road trip against Calgary

Later in the game, Loui Eriksson netted his 2nd of the game on the PP early in the 2nd period where the 5 on 3 advantage for nearly a minute and a half where a great passing play from James Neal one timer went wide and then Eriksson was able to handle near the post to rook to the top of the net over Rinnie to make it a 5-0 game early in the 2nd period.

In the 3rd period, Marty Turco's best moment of the night came on a power play where he made several big saves which included a pad stacker on an uncontested wrist shot that went to the upper post from Hamhuis from the left face off circle.

Then late in the game, Toby Petersen made it a 6-0 win with a goal from Jere Lehtinen who got his 1st point of the year and Karlis Skrastins who redirected the slap shot over the Predators goalie Rinne's shoulder.

Stars Game Report: http://stars.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2009020078

Important Message for fans with Dish Network

The last couple of weeks, the Dish Network company, Dallas Stars and F.S.N. Southwest have been in talks about televising all the Stars games. The problem came when the number of Stars games was raised from 40 to 61 this season, and Dish Network didn't want to pay for the extra games. Last night was the 1st of the affected games that Dish Network didn't air the games. Right now, they are 20 games that would be affected by this right now.

Until an agreement can be made, The Following Link will provide a list of the games affected.

http://stars.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=502173

If you Dish Network, you can contact the following to get updates on the situation to encourage the network to come up with an agreement.

Dish Network Customer Service: 1-888-686-2388

Fox Sports Southwest: viewerinfo@foxsports.net

Current Stars Stats Leaders

Through 5 games, Brad Richards is leading in total scoring with 9 points (3G 6A) which includes his 3 point night with a goal and 2 assists. As for goals, Brenden Morrow leads with 4 while Richards, Neal and Eriksson each have 3 goals so far this season.

Total Points: Brad Richards 9 PTS (3G, 6A)

Goals: Brenden Morrow 4

Assists: Brad Richards 6

+/-: Nicklas Grossman +10

To see the Team's full stats: http://stars.nhl.com/club/stats.htm