Valeri Nichushkin dropped to 4th line at Stars practice

The Dallas Stars appear to be shaking things up after a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

"I was embarrassed the way we defended, some of our neutral zone stuff, missed assignments," Stars head coach Lindy Ruff told the Dallas Morning News' Mike Heika after Monday's practice.

"We had five guys deep in the zone when they scored the game-winning goal. That was unacceptable for what we've gone through and tried to play defensively."

Ruff juggled his lines Monday, moving Tyler Seguin from right wing back to center, taking Cody Eakin off the top line, and dropping Valeri Nichushkin down to the fourth forward group alongside Travis Moen, Vernon Fiddler, and Colton Sceviour.

"There have been a lot of discussions (about changes)," Ruff said. "But I am just not up to discussing them (with the media)."

Nichushkin started the season on the second line with Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky, but the Russian prospect hasn't found his rhythm in the first two games, failing to notch a point and seeing his ice time drop from 14:24 in Thursday's season opener to 10:38 in Saturday's defeat.

Ruff alluded to a couple of options he may be considering with the struggling Nichushkin going forward.

"There's two ways to get through it," the head coach said. "You either sit on the outside and take a look, and sometimes that helps you, or sometimes players can play through it."

Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen, last season's unquestioned starter, is expected to get the nod Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers.

Antti Niemi started Dallas' first two games, shutting out the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opener before allowing all six goals Saturday.