After a commanding 4-1 win to start to the regular season, the Dallas Stars are at home tonight against Thursday night’s opponents, the Nashville Predators. This will be the middle of three games against division rivals to start the regular season.
Now, the Predators are currently ahead of the Stars in the standings, because the games played in Europe were part of the regular season. Which means the San Jose Sharks, who lost twice to the Predators and then lost to the Hurricanes last night, are currently scraping the bottom of the NHL barrel with three losses.
Stars That Shine
Mason Marchment, star of the preseason, continued his stardom with two goals on Thursday night, putting him on pace for 164 goals this season. That’s gotta be a record. He is expected to make a big impact in the top six this season and he’s done nothing but make a case for himself so far.
Wyatt Johnston scored his first goal in his first game after being drafted in first round in 2021. The Stars will have to make a decision after nine games as to whether to keep him in Dallas or send him down to the Texas Stars.
Jake Oettinger played like he’d never left the ice, saving 31 of 32 shots on goal. Even diving into the data, the Stars did a better job at keeping the Predators out of the high danger areas in front of the net than the Predators did. All four of the Stars’ goals came from below the face-off dots. The Predators’ lone goal came from above.
Predators that . . . Predate
Ryan Johansen scored a goal in the last five minutes? Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier were their most effective defensive pairing by far, but they spent most of the night paired against Marchment, Tyler Seguin, and Ty Dellandrea, who still managed to score on them.
Expected Lineups
Predators projected lineup
Filip Forsberg — Mikael Granlund — Matt Duchene
Nino Niederreiter — Ryan Johansen — Eeli Tolvanen
Yakov Trenin — Colton Sissons — Tanner Jeannot
Cole Smith — Michael McCarron — Zach Sanford
Roman Josi — Alexandre Carrier
Ryan McDonagh — Mattias Ekholm
Jeremy Lauzon — Dante Fabbro
Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Kiefer Sherwood, Mark Borowiecki, Michael McCarron
Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Mason Marchment — Tyler Seguin — Ty Dellandrea
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Denis Gurianov
Joel Kiviranta — Radek Faksa — Luke Glendening
Miro Heiskanen — Colin Miller
Esa Lindell — Nils Lundkvist
Ryan Suter — Jani Hakanpaa
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Jacob Peterson, Joel Hanley
Where to Watch
Puck drop will be at 7 pm on BallySports Southwest and The Tickkt 96.7 FM with Josh Bogorad and Daryl Reaugh.