Mark Stepneski breaks down the playoff race

Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Dallas Stars Page has a great article that breaks down the playoff race and where the Stars stand in the quagmire. To a lot of us it seems that the Stars haven't made up a whole heck of a of ground since Nov. 30 (the end of the Sean Avery Experiment) and that may have to do with the Stars giving up some points in overtime games. Yet the Stars have done a little bit better than most think when you look at the standings in the games alone since the beginning of December.

Rk	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PTS%	Pts +/-
1	San Jose	21	14	3	4	32	.762	-3
2	Detroit	23	16	5	2	34	.739	-5
3	Calgary	22	14	5	3	31	.705	-2
4	Chicago	23	15	6	2	32	.696	-3
5	Dallas	23	13	7	3	29	.630	-
6	Phoenix	25	14	8	3	31	.620	-2
7	Edmonton	24	14	9	1	29	.604	0
8	Columbus	24	12	10	2	24	.542	+5
9	Colorado	24	12	11	1	25	.521	+4
10	Los Angeles	24	9	11	4	22	.458	+7
11	Anaheim	25	10	13	2	22	.440	+7
11	St. Louis	25	10	13	2	22	.440	+7
13	Vancouver	24	8	11	5	21	.438	+8
14	Minnesota	24	9	13	2	20	.417	+9
15	Nashville	23	9	13	1	19	.413	+10

Mike Heika has a piece up about what Marty Turco and Mike Ribiero will be doing over the break.

"We're going to Disney World! We're going to Disney World!" Turco exclaimed, mimicking the reaction of Hailey and her sister, Katelyn, 4.

The Dallas Stars will be sending three players to the All Star Game festivities in Montreal: Stephane Robidas and Mike Modano will participate in the All Star Game and James Neal will play on the rookies team in the NHL YoungStars game held as part of the Skills Competition. Mike Modano will take part in the accuracy contest during the skills portion as well.

NHL .com has a great article about James Neal and his rise through the minors to become an important part of the Dallas Stars team.