OTTAWA (AP) -- The Dallas Stars are perfectly comfortable playing

on back-to-back nights.

Marty Turco earned his second shutout of the season, and Brenden

Morrow scored his 10th goal and assisted on Jere Lehtinen's 17th,

leading the Dallas Stars to a 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators

on Thursday night.

Turco stopped 25 shots for his 23rd career shutout as Dallas

recovered from Wednesday's 4-3 loss in Buffalo. Dallas has gone

14-3 -- including a pair of five-game winning streaks -- to surge

into first place in the Pacific Division.

The Stars improved to 6-0 this season in the second game on

consecutive nights.

"I really think a lot of it has to do with the players'

commitment to off-ice conditioning," Stars coach Dave Tippett

said. "(Strength and conditioning coach) J.J. McQueen does just a

heck of a job with the guys. Two games in two days and you'll see

most of our guys working out right here after the game."

Sure enough, a number of players were exercising with various

pieces of equipment, turning a hallway outside Dallas' dressing

room into an impromptu gym.

"It's an instinctive thing when you come back to the rink,"

Turco said about playing on consecutive nights. "When the mind and

the body is all one and the thinking is out of the game, and you

know where to be and you trust in everybody else, it's going to be

easy, you just go out and do it. ... We pride ourselves on showing

up on both nights."

Ottawa, which entered with the most goals scored in the NHL

(124) and the fewest allowed (59), was shut out for the second time

this month and lost for just the third time in 15 home games. The

Senators (22-5-2), who lost 3-0 in Boston on Dec. 1, lead the

Eastern Conference with 46 points despite losing three of four

(1-1-2).

"It looks like we had the great run, we've kind of fallen off a

bit, and now we've got to get it back," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray

said.

Dallas limited the Senators to three power-play opportunities

while converting one of its 10 chances with the man advantage.

"When we're short-handed that much in one game it's obviously

going to hinder us," said Ottawa center Jason Spezza, who returned

after missing one game with a hip injury. "It takes the flow out

of the game and then they sit back and play four men back and we

don't penetrate them very well. We have some changes to make and

adapt to these rules a little bit better."

Morrow caught a break to open the scoring on a power play 11:40

in. Senators rookie Ray Emery stopped Morrow's shot but the rebound

bounced off Ottawa defenseman Brian Pothier and carried into the

net.

"It went off my hand and I tried to throw it down to my stick,

and I think (Pothier) was just trying to clear the puck and bounced

around a couple of times and found it's way into the net," Morrow

said.

Lehtinen, the Stars' leading scorer, put the puck past Emery

after Morrow kicked it during a scramble with Senators forward Mike

Fisher.

Emery made 25 saves, losing his second straight game after

setting an NHL record by winning nine straight to begin his career.

Turco, who beat Edmonton 4-0 on Nov. 7, came sprawling out of

the net early in the third period to take away a scoring

opportunity from Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson.Game notes
Stars C Mike Modano was credited with an assist on

Lehtinen's goal following the game which extended his point streak

to seven games. Modano has two goals and seven assists during the

run. ... Ottawa hadn't been shut out at home since a 6-0 loss to

Toronto on April 3, 2004. ... Rookie Senators D Andrej Meszaros

ended a five-game point streak that included one goal and four

assists.