Seeking their first winning streak of the season, the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night take aim at a fifth straight victory over the slumping Edmonton Oilers.
The Stars dropped five of their previous six ahead of Monday's 3-2 victory in Colorado. Jamie Benn and Brenden Morrow both collected their first goals of the season, while Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves.
Benn finished with two goals and an assist after logging just a single helper over his first four games. He opened the game on a line with Morrow, who notched his third point of the season, and Jaromir Jagr.
"I felt really good out there tonight," said Benn. "Our line controlled the play a little bit more than it has been. We're just trying to get better each and every game."
Dallas won for only the second time in six road games this season and conclude a three-game swing on Wednesday. It will then host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday before hitting the road for another three straight.
The Stars will first try to extend their success over the Oilers after taking all four meetings last season by a combined 14-4 margin. They held the Oilers to a single goal in each game and have won nine of the past 10 encounters overall, taking four of five in Edmonton over that span.
The Oilers come into this meeting having lost three straight, though two of those defeats have come after regulation. That includes Monday's 3-2 home loss to the Vancouver Canucks in overtime.
Ales Hemsky and Ryan Smyth scored to stake Edmonton to a 2-0 lead, but Vancouver clawed back and tied the game with 2:17 to go in the third.
Taylor Hall had a chance to win the game for the Oilers when he was awarded a penalty shot at the 2:47 mark of overtime, but his wrist shot was turned aside and the Canucks' Christopher Tanev beat Edmonton netminder Devan Dubnyk with 19.3 ticks left in the frame for his first career goal.
Dubnyk was solid with 37 saves.
"We should have been able to win that game with our goalie playing the way he was playing," said Smyth. "We blew our assignments and when you give them chances like that they'll make you pay."
Oilers defenseman Mark Fistric left the game in the first with a back injury and is day-to-day, but the hand injury Shawn Horcoff suffered in the loss was a more serious one.
The forward sustained a broken knuckle blocking a shot in the second period and Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger said the captain could be out "long-term." Horcoff had just returned to the lineup after missing two games with a neck strain.
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