From theahl.com …

Mark Cullen played in his 500th professional game Friday night.

From ESPNDallas.com …

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Stars activated center Mike Ribeiro from injured reserve, but the team won’t have winger Steve Ott or defenseman Mark Fistric during a crucial three-game road trip, which starts in Chicago on Tuesday.

Ott had an emergency appendectomy early Monday morning and will not return until after the two-week Olympic break. Ott felt pain, called the trainers at 4 a.m. and it was determined that he needed surgery. 

Ott, the club’s chief agitator, has 23 points (11 of them goals) in 52 games.

Fistric’s knee injury, which he termed nagging, hasn’t improved and he’ll undergo arthroscopic surgery this week. Crawford said he was confident Fistric, who has averaged more than 14 minutes of ice time and has eight points, would be ready to go after the break.

The Stars do get some good news on the injury front as Ribeiro was activated off injured reserve and is expected to play Tuesday. Ribeiro hasn’t played since Jan. 6, when he was hit in a throat by a stick. But he has practiced more than a week and wants to get some games in before the league takes its two-week hiatus.

“I need to play to know where I’m at and see how I am physically,” Ribeiro said. “I’m sure I’m not going to play 20 minutes. It’s a hard team and a hard building to play in coming back after not playing for this long. It won’t be easy. I need to play simple hockey and get back into and keep my shifts short.”

Crawford said Jere Lehtinen would likely take Ott’s place on a line with Brenden Morrow and Jamie Benn. It also means more playing time for Krys Barch, Fabian Brunnstrom and Toby Petersen.

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