PREVIEW (11:30 am)

After the high ankle sprained Michael Leighton suffered on Tuesday, Brian Boucher will get an opportunity to shine. He'd better if the Flyers are to do anything more than continue their one-step-forward-one-step-back pattern during the stretch drive.

The Flyers handled Dallas with ease at the Wachovia Center earlier this season but the Stars are a much better club on home ice than on the road. The Stars took it to an overconfident Sharks team on Tuesday night, and these Flyers have no basis for being overconfident against any club this season. Philly is eminently capable of convincingly beating or getting utterly humiliated by any club in the NHL.

Although the Flyers are listing Michael Leighton as day-to-day, high ankle sprains tend by long-term injuries. At least Boucher has gotten to shake off a little of the rust that accumulated during a long stretch of inactivity.

As for the rest of the team, the club has only strung together three consecutive strong periods once since the Olympic break. If they come out ready to outwork Dallas tonight, they should be successful. If they continue to play sporadic, mistake-prone hockey, an "on-paper" winnable game could go south in a hurry. I watched the Dallas game against San Jose the other night, and the Stars played outstanding hockey that night. Apart from the Stars' usual top players such as Loui Eriksson, the surprising Brandon Segal was outstanding against the Sharks.

The Stars claimed Segal off waivers from Los Angeles on Feb. 11. In the seven games he's played since then, he has 5 goals and 8 points, including a goal and an assist in the game against San Jose.

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