SPORTSDAY

The outshot the Oilers, 41-14, but finished the preseason, 1-5-1.

They were really trying to tie it up in the third, so you could see it mattered to them.

Does it matter that they struggled in the preseason? Could it be a good thing as a wake-up call for the regular season?

The Oilers uncorked their six shot since the first period, and this one found the back of the net.

Jason Strudwick with just a wild fling from the point, and it hit either Ethan Moreau or Doug Janick in front and deflected past Marty Turco.

Oilers up 3-2 at the 5:47 mark of the third period.

The Stars outshout the Oiler, 12-4, in the period, and had the better of the play. They earned a couple of power plays, and weren't able to convert.

Should be a good third period. Both teams needs something to hang their hat on in preseason.

It's 2-2, thanks to a power play goal from Stephane Robidas.

Crombeen drew a roughing penalty from Sheldon Souray to start the man advantage, and the Stars power play put a tic-tac-toe play together. Mike Modano found Loui Eriksson in the slot, and Eriksson one-touched a pass to Robidas, who was sneaking in from the point.

The Stars needed that. They looked reallly flat.

It was both gritty and lucky. He just whipped a puck on net from a hard angle, and it went off of the post, off of Mathieu Garon's back and into the net.

It was Crombeen's second goal of the preseason.

Oilers scope on the power play.

Sheldon Souray on a point shot that went through a maze of sticks and bodies. It looked like Turco never saw it.

Oilers are in quickly.

Andrew Cogliano was alone in front and received a great pass from Robert Nilsson behind the net.

Marty Turco was surprised to see Cogliano and the puck, and while he slid over in time, Cogliano slipped it between the pads. Stars down at the 1:11 mark.

Oh, by the way:

Avery (ill), Lehtinen (groin) and Zubov (hip) are out. Toby Petersen and Mark Fistric are healthy scratches.

Lines are:

Morrow-Ribeiro-Conner
Lundqvist-Richards-Eriksson
Neal-Modano-Brunnstrom
Barch-Ott-Crombeen

The New York Rangers opened the NHL season with a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague.

The teams will meet again Sunday.

The Stars today announced that D Dan Jancevski had been assigned to Hamilton and D Garrett Stafford to Grand Rapids. With Sergei Zubov (hip) hurt and Ivan Vishnevskiy ill, that left the Stars with seven defensemen on the ice today.

It appeared the pairings were: Grossman-Robidas, Janik-Boucher, Daley-Niskanen. Fistric was the odd-man out, but he might still play Sunday against Edmonton in the final preseason game if Philippe Boucher (toe) isn't 100 percent. Stars coach Dave Tippett said a decision on Boucher would be made after the morning skate Sunday.

Also missing from practice were Jere Lehtinen (groin) and Sean Avery (sick). Both are questionable for tomorrow. The lines for practice were:

Morrow-Ribeiro-Conner
Lundqvist-Richards-Eriksson
Petersen-Modano-Neal/Brunnstrom
Crombeen-Ott-Barch

Tippett explained today that Modano will probably remain at center. He said Modano could play left wing at times or in special situations, but that the plan is to keep him at center for the season. As such, there is now more of a need for Joel Lundqvist at wing, so he will remain there. So much for the experiment, I guess.

I kind of think Toby Petersen is going to play the Stu Barnes role this year, where he is everything from a first line right wing to a third line left wing to a fourth line center. We'll see how that works out.

The Stars still have to find a way to put Lehtinen and Avery into the mix before opening night, so my guess is that we'll be in ``read and react'' mode for a while.

And you can find both games on NHL Network or Center Ice.

ESPN.com does a nice preview to both here, with video reports.

Tampa Bay plays the Rangers in Prague at 11 a.m. today.

The Penguins play the Senators in Stockholm at 1:30 p.m. today.

The four teams will then repeat tomorrow at the same time. All four games are sold out.

I understand the ambassador nature of these types of games, and I understand the fact that there has to be time to get back for the teams in question, but this just seems like such a false start to the season.

Oh well, these are good teams, and they should be good games. Particularly intersting for Stars fans will be watching Mike Smith in net and Jussi Jokinen at center for the Lightning. Both will be relied upon this season if Tampa Bay is going to challenge for a playoff spot.

So would you start the season in Europe, or should the NHL abandon these exhibitions and concentrate on growing the game in North America?

The Stars assigned Maxime Fortunas (Manitoba), Landon Wilson (Grand Rapids) and Matt Climie (Idaho) to their respective minor league clubs and held a tighter practice today.

They still have a few too many forwards, and I'm not sure what they're thinking as far as lines go. Brenden Morrow (hip) returned to practice, but Jere Lehtinen (groin) sat out, so here were your lines:

Morrow-Ribeiro-Conner
Neal-Modano-Avery
Lundqvist-Richards-Eriksson
Barch-Ott-Crombeen
Brunnstrom-Petersen-?

Stars coach Dave Tippett seemed really commited to Modano on the left wing with Richards, and Lundqvist as the checking line center when camp started, but he's gotten away from that in recent games. I know he's had a lot of bodies to deal with, but it seems like he would give players some practice time in those positions if he was serious about them.

Right now, I have no idea what he's thinking about for opening day. I guess I should listen to you guys when you say there really is no predicting this stuff from day to day.

Doug Janik (waivers) and Philippe Boucher (toe) each practiced today, and both are expected to play Sunday against Edmonton. The team will practice in Frisco Saturday.

I was looking over the preseason stats, and I was impressed by a couple of things:

It just seems like the best players find a way to be the best players, whether it's the Stanley Cup Finals or the preseason. Here are a couple of the key leaders:

Topping the goaltending leaders:

New Jersey's Martin Brodeur with a 0.66 GAA and a .962 save percentage in two games. Right behind him are Chris Osgood (0.79, .963) and Roberto Luongo (0.90, .969).

Meanwhile, Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg has three goals, three assists and is plus-5 in three games, Philadelphia's Mike Richards has four goals and an assist in four games, and Colorado's Ryan Smyth has four goals in three games. Alexander Ovechkin has three goals in two games for Washington.

Surprising performances have come in St. Louis, where Andy McDonald has three goals and eight assists for 11 points in four games, and Brad Boyes and Lee Stempniak have each added five goals and four assists in four games.

One more fun stat. The Stars are a team of mostly evens and minuses in the pre-season, but Matt Niskanen is a plus-5 on a squad with a 1-4-1 record. He was second on the Stars in plus-minus last season at plus-22.

The Ticket's Bob Sturm has a great entry on his blog about his experience on the bench last night.

If you want to know what it's like, he spells it out here.

Stars coach Dave Tippett was not pleased after the shootout loss.

He was upset with the fact the Stars had 30 shots that were either blocked or missed the net _ including several by key players on the power play _ and he called out Mark Fistric as a disappointment in the pre-season.

Tippett was asked if the waiver wire pickup of Doug Janik was designed to light a fire under players such as Dan Jancevski and Garrett Stafford, and he answered with this:

``The guy that needs to have a fire lit under him is Fistric. He's been very poor, very poor. He needs to be better. That's a guy where there's just too many errors out there...He's got to be a guy who has the ability to play against the other team's top players, and he's been struggling.''

D _ James Neal _ wide wrister
C _ Dave Bolland _ Holds puck too long, no shot
D _ Chris Conner _ wrister, stopped
C _ Andrew Ladd _ Wrister, good
D _ Sean Avery _ Backhand, pad save.

Blackhawks win, 4-3 in shootout

Dallas' power play gets another 5-on-3, and also a five-minute major, and can't convert.

That opens the door for a Kevyn Adams tip and a tying goal with 1:36 left to make it 3-3.

We are heading to overtime.

Stars on power play opportunity No. 15.

Kris Versteeg scored short-handed for the Blackhawks, but James Neal answers for the Stars.

They're giving the goal to Toby Petersen in the building, but I'm pretty sure it was Neal.

3-2 Stars.

Shots are 23-13 for the Stars. Dallas on like its 27th power play.

Fabian Brunnstrom on a nice redirection from 20 feet.

Brad Richards with a great pass. He is the Stars' best player right now.

2-1 Stars.

After the Stars frittered a two-man advantage, Brad Richards skated behind the net and threw a puck into the net off defenseman Brent Sopel's skate for a power play goal.

It's' 1-1.

The play was a gift from the hockey gods, but Richards earned the good karma by making three nice passes earlier in the game that had the potential for goals, but were not converted by his teammates.

Power play goal for Chicago.

Aaron Johnson sneaks in from the point and spanks a one-timer on a nice pass from Kris Versteeg.

Stars PK has allowed 10 goals on 29 opportunities in the pre-season (65.5 percent). The power play is a dazzling 2-for-32 (6.3 percent).

I know, I know, it's just pre-season.