Quenneville anticipates 'tough game' in Dallas

The Avalanche, which is coming off a four-day break, begins a four-game trip tonight against Dallas, a team that is third in the Pacific Division.

The Avalanche continues its road swing with Northwest Division games at Minnesota, Calgary and Edmonton.

"We'll take it one game at a time," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're going to Dallas. We've been exclusively playing in our own division, so it's nice to get outside of it. We have to make sure we establish the first game as an important game.

"It's going to be a tough game. The first 10 to 15 minutes of that game will be critical. We're going to have energy, we have to make sure we're ready mentally. The last couple games on the road we played pretty well and we want to build on that. We've always had trouble in Dallas with Dallas."

Playing against a legend

The Avalanche will be playing against the greatest American scorer in NHL history in Dallas center Mike Modano.

"He's obviously one of the better American players that has ever come along," said Avalanche center Wyatt Smith, who is from Thief River Falls, Minn.

Modano, 37, has played in 1,255 NHL games and has 512 goals and 1,235 points.

"He's been a tremendous part of USA hockey," said fellow American and Avalanche defenseman John Michael Liles. "He's never been a guy that's afraid to speak his mind.

"I've enjoyed playing with him in several international events, and he's always been a guy that if something is not right, he lets management know it and that's the type of leader he is. There's a reason why he's so well-respected, and the fact he's played his entire career with the same franchise sort of adds to that respect."

Modano, a Livonia, Minn., native who is playing his 18th season with the Stars franchise, has five goals and 10 points in 18 games this years.

"Wednesday night, he was a very noticeable player on the ice," Quenne- ville said. "He was a big factor and looked like he was skating extremely well. Going into the game, we have to be aware of him. He's very dangerous off the rush and his speed is very noticeable."

Sakic's pursuit of history

Joe Sakic, the Avalanche's leading career scorer in almost every category, keeps climbing the all-time scoring charts in the NHL.

Sakic is 11th all time in assists (992), 14th in goals (615) and eighth in points (1,607), which makes Tyler Arnason's ascent to reach 200 career points look trivial.

Arnason currently has 199 points (76 goals and 123 assists) in 363 NHL games.

"I don't know, I guess getting 200 points in the NHL is pretty good," Arnason said. "200 points isn't bad in 360 games. I'm not going to compare myself to Joe Sakic."

Bonding experience

Paul Stastny, the Avalanche's leading scorer, knows he and his teammates need to pull together on the road.

Stastny has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 10 homes games but only one goal and one assist in seven road games.

"Sometimes it's better to play on the roado the tough thing is adjusting to the fans and the crowd noise," he said. "It's just you and your teammates against the team and their fans. We have a good tight group and that helps us out."

He said it

"We've been playing well at home and the last two games we were pretty well on the road, so, hopefully, we can keep building on that momentum."

Sakic, on the Avalanche's upcoming four-game trip and the team's 2-4-1 road record this season.

Avalanche at Stars

*When: 6:30 p.m. MST today.

*Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas.

*TV/Radio: Altitude. KKFN-AM (950).

*Leading scorers

Colorado (11-5-1) G A Pts.

C Paul Stastny 9 13 22

C Joe Sakic 5 13 18

LW Wojtek Wolski 7 8 15

LW Andrew Brunette 3 11 14

LW Ryan Smyth 6 7 13

Coach: Joel Quenneville

Dallas (7-7-4) G A Pts.

C Mike Ribeiro 7 11 18

LW Brenden Morrow 8 10 18

RW Jere Lehtinen 5 12 17

D Sergei Zubov 3 11 14

LW Niklas Hagman 8 2 10

C Mike Modano 5 5 10

Coach: Dave Tippett *

Injuries: Colorado - D Jordan Leopold (wrist) and C Ian Laperriere (knee) are outo D Karlis Skrastins (shoulder) is day to day. Dallas - LW Brad Winchester (abdominal strain) is outo D Mattias Norstrom (facial lacerations) is day to day.

*Notes: Jose Theodore will start in goal tonight for the Avalanche. He is 3-0-1 in his past four starts, allowing seven goals on 121 shots (.942 save percentage, 1.74 goals-against average). . . . Sakic has points in 10 of his past 11 games (one goal, 12 assists). . . . The Dallas line of Morrow, Ribeiro and Lehtinen has accounted for 45 points in the past 13 games. . . . Colorado is 2-6 in Dallas during the past four regular seasons. . . . Colorado beat Dallas 4-3 in the opener at the Pepsi Center. . . . The Avalanche power play ranked tied for 16th at 17.1 percent entering Thursday's games, and the penalty kill was tied for 19th before at 80.6 percent. On the road, Colorado's power-play percentage dips to 10.3, but the penalty kill jumps to 89.3. . . . The Avalanche's 12.2 penalty minutes per game was the fourth-lowest figure in the NHL. . . . The Avalanche is 7-2-1 in the past 10 games, while the Stars are 3-5-2.