Word is now that Mike Ribeiro didn't miss the meeting, he was just 10 minutes late for it. Even still, if you've ever been in a management position before, I think you can appreciate the opportunity Marc Crawford had to send a message to the rest of the group. He probably did the right thing. The coaching staff has been pretty generous with the practice schedule as of late, so the least they can do is show up for a meeting.

As for the game, what can you do? They had a lousy first, a five minute hiccup in the second, and a strong third, but it all added up to a loss. A bounce here or there and things go the other way. The thing I take away from this game is that right now, Kari Lehtonen is on his game. This is the potential they saw in him when they made the trade with Vishnevskiy. He's calm, he's big, he has an economy of movement that Marty didn't; Maybe it's just different, but right now it inspires a little more confidence.

(Or maybe I'm just desperately reaching for something positive to hold onto for next season. And is that so wrong?)

Anyway, I'm swamped at work so here are some morning links for you...

Mike Heika's been churning out a lot of good content on this road trip:

• A long, frustrating ride for Fabian Brunnstrom
• Trevor Daley's rising confidence
• Crawford hopes Lehtinen decides to return, doesn't offer a way to pay for it.

And on to the game last night....

• Andrew's illustrated the draft standings...is there any way the Stars can do better than 9th? And isn't that even a little bit of a stretch?
• Worley offered his take on Mike Ribeiro yesterday. He asks the inflammatory question: Could this be the first step in a Mike Ribeiro trade?
• Anaheim Calling: Because you want to participate in the "Bonino" celebration?
• ESPN's Richard Durrett conspicuously returns to Stars blogging and is buying stock in Kari Lehtonen.
  
• Mike Heika offers his observations of last night's debacle.