Colorado Avalanche Hope To Build Upon Stars' Road Woes (7:00p CST)

The Dallas Stars were able to get the big road monkey off their back on Friday, with a big win Edmonton. Unfortunately, the Stars needed a last-second goal to stop a spirited Edmonton comeback, who had tied the game with just over a minute left in regulation.

With the Stars traveling from Edmonton to Denver over the weekend, (and having some issues at that)) it's going to be the same lineup against the Avs that faced the Oilers on Friday night. Tom Wandell and Brenden Morrow are still nursing their injuries, so we'll see plenty of Warren Peters and Raymond Sawada.

Complicating matters further is the fact that Colorado is one of the Western Conference's best home teams, and are riding a five-game winning streak into tonight. While the Stars did indeed get their big win on Friday, the team still had issues putting together a solid 60 minutes and nearly frittered away a 3-1 lead.

The big news now is that Marty Turco will get the start once more in net. Whether this is Marc Crawford just riding a hunch, or he was inspired by Turco's strong play against Edmonton or if Alex Auld did little to instill confidence in the coaches that he could carry the team...there's no doubt the lack of a true starter right now in Dallas is doing little for the consistency of the team.

As we've stated before, with the team in transition what we're looking for the most is progress and improvement as the season progresses. What's been most encouraging about these past few weeks is that the Stars are finally looking like a team again, playing for each other on the ice and sticking up for one another. That they've been able to accomplish this without Morrow and Ribeiro in the lineup speaks volumes to the the determination of the younger players on the roster who have stepped up.

The Stars are now a team playing within a system; they are pushing the play up ice, creating chances off a strong forecheck and the defensemen are producing as well. For this team to continue their higher level of success of late, they'll need to play a perfect road game against Colorado.

Easier said than done.