Stars open trek in Carolina

The Dallas Stars will kick off a four-game road trip this afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center.

Dallas will also visit Washington, Pittsburgh and Detroit on the trek and has won two in a to improve to 9-3-0 on the season. In Friday's 7-6 overtime win versus Colorado in Big D, Loui Eriksson scored off a defender's body with 1:05 remaining in overtime to lift the Stars to victory.

Eriksson had two goals and Sheldon Souray, Vernon Fiddler, Alex Goligoski, Eric Nystrom and Jamie Benn also scored for the Stars, who went 2-1 on a three-game homestand. After going 8-1 in October with a 1.75 goals-against average and .947 save percentage, Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen gave up six goals on 40 shots. His GAA rose to 2.16 and his save percentage fell to .936.

"It was like the 80s again," Stars forward Brenden Morrow said of the high- scoring game. "I think we're going to chalk this one up to a little rust."

The last time the Stars franchise was involved in a game with that many goals was Nov. 28, 1992, when the North Stars beat San Jose, 10-3. Morrow and the Pacific Division-leading Stars had been off since last Saturday. Dallas is now 6-1-0 at home this season.

Benn added three assists in the win and has a team-leading 11 on the year. Forward Steve Ott missed the game with a hip problem and could sit a few more games for Dallas, which scored four times in the second period.

Carolina has alternated wins and losses over its last five games and is 1-1 on a three-game homestand following Friday's 5-1 loss versus Washington.

Anthony Stewart scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes, who have lost five of seven games. Cam Ward turned aside 27-of-32 shots in net.

"We strayed away from the game plan of getting pucks deep and taking the body, and they took advantage of it," Stewart said.

Jay Harrison and Jeff Skinner assisted on the lone goal, while Harrison has assists in two straight games. The Hurricanes are 0-3-2 this season when trailing after two periods. Defenseman Jamie McBain played in his 100th NHL game Friday.

Carolina dropped both meetings with Dallas a season ago and the Stars are 14-6-2 in the last 22 meetings. Dallas is 2-6-1 in its last nine at Carolina.