Detroit @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 28, 2018 ) Dallas 2, Detroit 4

The Dallas Stars have battled their way into a playoff position in the Western Conference and look to continue climbing when they start a four-game homestand against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. The Stars registered a 2-0 victory at Nashville on Thursday after the Christmas break while giving up 49 shots and getting no production from their potent top trio of captain Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov and Tyler Seguin.

“It was a good win,” Dallas forward Tyler Pitlick told reporters after scoring for the second straight game. “It was good for us to come together and pull that one out. Obviously, we gave up too many shots, but I thought we beared down and came up big when it mattered.” Dylan Larkin set up two goals as Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak against Dallas on Oct. 28 with a 4-2 victory that ignited a 9-2-0 run, but has won five times in 18 contests since. The Red Wings scored the first goal before giving up three in the second period and falling 5-2 at Pittsburgh on Thursday for their seventh setback in eight games (1-5-2). “We’ve played good enough to win, certainly in our last three, and we haven’t,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told reporters after the loss. “So what you have to do is you have to find a way to be mentally tough and grind it out. … We have to learn from this, and then put it behind up and go play a great game in Dallas.”

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Southwest (Dallas)

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (15-18-6): Larkin has not slowed down during the slump, extending his point streak to 12 games (six goals, nine assists) by scoring in Thursday’s defeat. The 22-year-old center leads the team in goals (16) and points (37) while forward Gustav Nyquist has recorded 16 of his 32 points in the last 16 contests and center Frans Nielsen boasts all seven of his goals in December. Speedy forward Andreas Athanasiou snapped an 11-game goal drought with a third-period tally Thursday after missing the previous two contests because of injury.

ABOUT THE STARS (19-16-3): Pitlick was a healthy scratch earlier this month, but registered a season-high seven shots Thursday and is likely in the lineup to stay with forwards Martin Hanzal and Jason Dickinson being placed on injured reserve Friday. “That was his best game in a month,” Dallas coach Jim Montgomery told reporters of Pitlick on Thursday. “. … He made strong plays. His speed was very noticeable. He was creating turnovers, taking pucks to the net.” Seguin leads the team with 32 points despite being blanked the last three games and Benn tops the Stars with 15 goals.

OVERTIME

1. Detroit G Jonathan Bernier made 28 saves to beat Dallas in October and is 8-4-1 with a 2.14 goals-against average all-time against the Stars.

2. Dallas activated D Connor Carrick (foot) and assigned D Gavin Bayreuther to AHL Texas on Friday.

3. Stars G Ben Bishop, who was rested Thursday, is 13-5-0 with a 1.99 GAA and a .923 save percentage in his career against Detroit.

PREDICTION: Stars 4, Red Wings 1