Lehtinen out 7 to 10 days

Dallas Stars right wing Jere Lehtinen will miss the next seven to 10 days with an upper-body injury, Stars coach Dave Tippett said. Lehtinen already missed the season's first 14 games with a groin injury.

James Neal was back for his first practice since being sent down earlier this month. He seemed really comfortable. He was engaged in a lot of chatter on the ice and in the locker room. He had a great chemistry with Mike Modano and B.J. Crombeen, but Crombeen is now in St. Louis and Modano is playing alongside Brenden Morrow. Neal skated with Mike Ribeiro and Sean Avery today. We'll see how he fares with those two.

With Philippe Boucher now in Pittsburgh, the Stars are pairing young guys with veterans on defense. It works out well because that gives them a natural right-handed and left-handed shot with each pair. Sergei Zubov was paired with Nicklas Grossman, Darryl Sydor with Matt Niskanen and Trevor Daley with Stephane Robidas. 

--Milenko Martinovich