(Sports Network) - After a tumultuous week, the Ottawa Senators will aim for a second straight win tonight when they host the Dallas Stars at Scotiabank Place.
The Senators have been dealing with grief since the suicide death of Luke Richardson's 14-year-old daughter Daron on Nov. 13. Ottawa earned a win in Boston the day it received the tragic news, but then dropped three games in a row before getting back on track Monday against visiting Los Angeles.
Jason Spezza was the hero for the Sens on Monday, scoring the game-winning goal in the third period to lift Ottawa to the 3-2 win over the Kings.
Alexei Kovalev added a goal and an assist to surpass the 1,000-career point mark while Milan Michalek supplied the other goal for the Senators. Pascal Leclaire turned away 28 shots to earn the victory.
"It was a good win. We had a bit of a rough week so it was good to come back on a winning note," Leclaire said.
The Senators are 6-4-0 on home ice this year and have won three of their last four tilts at Scotiabank Place. Ottawa will play its next game on the road this Friday evening in Pittsburgh, but the Sens will then return to Ottawa to kick off a four-game homestand with Saturday's test against Toronto.
Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson missed the last game with flu-like symptoms and is questionable for tonight. Senators forward Chris Neil is also questionable after suffering an upper-body injury in Monday's game.
Dallas enters tonight's test having dropped two straight and five of its last seven games. The Stars were also in action Monday and dropped a 4-1 decision in Toronto. Nikolai Kulemin scored twice and Jonas Gustavsson made 21 saves to lead the Maple Leafs to victory.
Brad Richards had the lone goal for the Stars, while Kari Lehtonen turned aside 22-of-25 shots in defeat.
"It was a little bit of everything," Stars head coach Mark Crawford said. "There are no consolations in games like this. They deserved to win."
Dallas forward Loui Eriksson notched an assist in the loss to push his point streak to five games. He has six assists during the run, but has gone seven straight games without a goal.
Stars defenseman Mark Fistric sustained an undisclosed injury in the loss to Toronto and is questionable for tonight. Dallas winger James Neal also suffered a cut to his leg on Monday, but is expected to play tonight.
Dallas enters tonight riding a three-game road losing streak and the club is 3-5-0 as the visiting team overall this season. The Stars will be back home on Friday to play the St. Louis Blues.
The Stars posted a home win over Ottawa in the lone meeting between the clubs last season and Dallas has three wins in the last five encounters. The Senators have won three of the last four matchups in Ottawa.