Despite dominating the Flames in almost every aspect Wednesday night’s game, the Stars still found themselves on the losing end of yet another overtime heartbreaker. Still, the Stars found many positives in their game and hope build on their solid play tomorrow against Vancouver.

“I thought it was one of those nights where the wrong team won,” says defenseman Trevor Daley. “Some nights it’s going to happen like that, but I’m really excited about what we had out there last night and what this team could possibly do.”

Teammate Mike Ribeiro agreed. “We can take the positives from last night: we played well; we just weren’t lucky and didn’t get the win,” he says. “We just need to keep focusing on what we have to do and not the other team. We have a good team, good goaltending. We just need to try to play the same way we did last night.”

Head Coach Marc Crawford didn’t have too many complaints from game either. With a few minor adjustments, the Stars should be ready to dominate most nights and – most importantly – win.

“That’s the type of game offensively that we generated a lot in,” Crawford says. “It’s the type of game that defensively, we really did stymie the opposition for large portions of the game. If we keep throwing that formula out there, we’re going to have good results. You’re always looking for improvements. I don’t think there is a perfect hockey game, but you’re always trying to have your players play as flawlessly as they possibly can. As much as we are gaining as much solace as we can in the fact that we played a real strong game, victories are what speak the loudest, especially when you’re talking about confidence. We know the formula’s right; we’ve got a lot of belief in the group. The next step is to close the deal, so to speak.”

Injury Update

Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen returned to the Stars’ lineup last night after missing the last 13 and nine games respectively. Today, both players were feeling fine at practice and are ready to take on the Canucks tomorrow night.

“They both said they felt pretty good,” Crawford says. “Mike commented on the fact that he thought he caught up to the pace of the hitting in the second period. Jere told me that it was a hard game last night, but he feels really good today. That’s a good blessing for us, obviously. He had that long training camp off getting ready. He came back, had two games and went back on the shelf. I’m sure it’s good for him getting through these periods where his body going to get some soreness, and hopefully its not to the severity that he’s got to take time off again. We’re always leery of that. Their comments were pretty positive today.”

James Neal did not skate today (groin) but is a possibility for tomorrow night. He scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season last night.

Canucks Friday

The Stars host the Vancouver Canucks Friday at American Airlines Center at 7:30 (Get Tickets). This is the second time this season the teams will face each other and first in Dallas. The Stars lost to the Canucks, 4-3, in a shootout on Oct. 11 in Vancouver. Stars’ rookie Jamie Benn scored his first career NHL goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.