Red Wings – Stars Pregame Notes

With Patrick Eaves out for a week after falling awkwardly on his leg against the Sharks on Tuesday and neither Mike Modano nor Valtteri Filppula ready to return from their respective injuries (both are expected back on Saturday against the Sabres), the Red Wings have called Jan Mursak back up from the Griffins to fill in tonight against the Stars.

Dallas has dropped five in a row and nine of their last ten. They’ve dropped into a three-way tie for ninth in the Western Conference. GM Joe Nieuwendyk is reportedly shopping star forward Brad Richards, so this is a team on its way down. As seen in the Florida game last week, those can be tough for Detroit.

The Wings dropped their last game to San Jose but had a five-game winning streak going before that. I didn’t see the loss so I won’t comment on it. I will say that you could see it coming, as three dominant wins (twice over Boston, then one against Tampa Bay) were followed by a sloppy effort against Florida and a snoozer against Minnesota. The effort level needs to be back up tonight against a team that loves to give Detroit fits.