Stars vs. Flames preview: Dallas looks to extend streak to 5 games

The Calgary Flames (3-4-3) will host the Dallas Stars (7-5-1) on Wednesday night.

It will mark the first of three meetings between the two teams this season.

Dallas will be entering the night on the back of a four-game winning streak, in addition to winning five of their last six games.

After winning two of their first three games to open the year, the Stars fell off track by losing four consecutive games to finish off the opening month of the season. Since the calendar has flipped over to February, however, the team has found its stride with a consistent amount of production from the offense and from the stellar play of goaltender Kari Lehtonen.

In the six games the team has played in the season's second month, the Stars have scored three or more goals five times (all of which were victories) and held opponents to two goals or less in all but one game (a 4-3 shootout victory over the Phoenix Coyotes).

Jaromir Jagr will enter the night with the team lead in points with nine (four goals and five assists), while rising star Jamie Benn is producing at a point-per-game pace (four goals and four assists).

Calgary is coming into the contest on the back of a two-game losing streak.

Having most recently lost to the Minnesota Wild in a less-than-stellar 2-1 shootout-decided game, the team also fell to the Vancouver Canucks by a 5-1 final score on Saturday night.

Having registered only three wins this season, the Flames have struggled in most areas of the game by scoring an average of 2.60 goals per game (ranked 20th), allowing an average of 3.20 goals against per game (ranked 24th) and only killing off 75 percent of their penalties (also ranked 24th).

To make matters worse, goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff will need at least another two weeks to recover from a grade two MCL sprain.

On the bright side, the club's power play has successfully converted on 23.7 percent of it's chances and is ranked in the top-10 of the entire league (sixth). Unfortunately, Dallas' penalty kill has successfully neutralized 85.5 percent of all infractions taken (ranked seventh).

Wednesday night's game is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m., ET and will be televised on FS-Southwest+ and TSN.