Harley, Peterson back in as Stars look for their fourth win in a row

Stars (36-24-3, 75 points) vs. Canucks (31-26-9, 71 points)

The Stars are coming off one of their worst performances of the season, getting outshot 47-15 to Carolina, but they still found a way to win 4-3 in a shootout. Stars coach Rick Bowness said they won't look back on the loss too much, but it's clear he wants to change a few things.
Jacob Peterson will come back in for Marián Studenič, while Thomas Harley will sub in on defense for Andrej Sekera. With a home game against the Canucks, Bowness said he wanted to get some fresh legs in and make sure players don't sit too long.
"They're playing really well," Bowness said on the Canucks. "They're a confident group right now. They've got a great goaltender, they're scoring more, and they've tightened it up a little bit defensively in terms of their structure. They're more committed to coming back with certain structure in their own zone and when you do that, you break the puck out easier and they're more effective on the rush."
Harley will be a big addition. The 20-year-old is a first-round draft pick with skill, but he's still learning the position. So, sitting him out for two games can be helpful. Harley said he has talked a great deal with the coaching staff and watched intensely from the press box.

Bowness said it's tough to make the decision to scratch players like Studenic or Peterson, but said it's not based on performance.
"It was tough to pull Petey, it's tough to pull Marian, are we going to pull a veteran at some point? Yeah, we are," Bowness said. "We've got healthy bodies and it's not going to be the same guys that we're going to pull out of the lineup. I'm telling them, you haven't played your way out of the lineup, but we've got 14 healthy forwards and we're going to try to use them all."

What to watch

The addition of Scott Wedgewood proved incredibly fruitful in his 44-save effort against Carolina. That's huge for a team that's been leaning heavily on 23-year-old Jake Oettinger. Now that Wedgewood is in the fold, Oettinger can play when it's best for him. While he said he played a lot of back-to-backs in college and the minors, having some options is good.
"I played a ton at BU and obviously since then I haven't really had a number one role," he said. "It was really nice getting back into that but that's something you have to earn, and you have to play well to hold that role. We're going to push each other and it's going to be really competitive. Both of us want to be in the net, so I think it's going to be a great thing down the stretch."
Oettinger said he's learned a lot by battling through some adversity.
"At the beginning of the year, they weren't really putting me in tough positions and now, that's what I want," he said. "For them to be able to trust me to go in anywhere and be able to play well is obviously great for me. I've just got to keep doing that and getting those starts."

Lineup update

Harley's back in on defense and Peterson's back in at forward. Oettinger will get the start.
Here's a possible lineup:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Namestnikov-Seguin-Gurianov
Peterson-Benn-Radulov
Raffl-Faksa-Glendening
Suter-Hakanpaa
Lindell-Klingberg
Harley-Hanley
Oettinger
Wedgewood

Numbers

43

Vancouver ranks 29th in the NHL in first-period scoring. Dallas ranks fourth in fewest first-period goals allowed at 44.

973

That's how many blocked shots the Canucks have this season, which ranks fifth in the NHL.

71.9 percent

Vancouver ranks last in the NHL in penalty kill success at 71.9 percent.

He said it

"Honestly, it's been a weird year that way. It's nice to have that over with, but I felt pretty calm that I was going to stay here throughout the trade deadline. I feel positive about that. I've been here for eight years. Whatever happens, I'm still a Dallas Star to this day." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg on getting past the trade deadline and still being a member of the team
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.