On Monday night, a rested Dallas Stars team, having not played since Thursday’s shootout win against the Washington Capitals, take on an old rival – the Detroit Red Wings.
Hold on, you say? Wasn’t there a game on the schedule against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon?
Did you watch? More like a morning skate, don’t you think? Even Miro Heiskanen only put in 23 minutes on the ice.
I’m pretty sure that you can’t find any game tape. Rumor has it, the Stars even got ESPN+ to delete any evidence. No sense dwelling on any inconsistencies – just blame it on the return of Nils Lundkvist.
Dallas Stars Lineup
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Mason Marchment (27) – Matt Duchene (95) – Tyler Seguin (91)
Jamie Benn (14) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Evgenii Dadonov (63)
Craig Smith (15) – Radek Faksa (12) – Sam Steel (18)
Esa Lindell (23) – Jani Hakanpää (2)
Ryan Suter (20) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Thomas Harley (55) – Joel Hanley (44)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
Click further – Roope Hintz is feeling better and drawing back in.
Detroit Red Wings Lineup
Robby Fabbri (14) – Joseph Veleno (90) – Lucas Raymond (23)
Alex DeBrincat (93) – Andrew Copp (18) – Patrick Kane (88)
Michael Rasmussen (27) – Christian Fischer (36) – David Perron (57)
Jonatan Berggren (48) – Austin Czarnik (21) – Daniel Sprong (17)
Jake Walman (96) – Moritz Seider (53)
Ben Chiarot (8) – Jeff Petry (46)
Shane Gostisbehere (41) – Justin Holl (3)
Alex Lyon (34)
James Reimer (47)
The big news here is Dylan Larkin going on injured reserve after an extremely questionable hit to the back of the head. That just adds to the injuries to the forward corps, all of which resulted in the emergency callups listed above.
Side note – the Texas Stars play a now decimated Grand Rapids Griffins four times in the next nine days.
Kane is the story that you’ll be hearing about throughout the broadcast this evening. The main media story is just what you’d expect. Kane has one goal in two games and is already sporting a -3 +/- rating. Sometimes a deal is just what you expect. For a great slice of life on Kane, with a Stars connection, check out Sean Shapiro’s latest at his Shap Shots substack.
Beyond the hype, the Red Wings defense is balanced, will contribute to the offense and be reliable. In net, the Red Wings are carrying three goalies. Ville Husso’s numbers after 14 games are bottom of the barrel, so Detroit is running a 1A/1B setup with Reimer and Lyon – both of whom have been top notch to date.
Keys to the Game
Short Memory. Vegas game, what Vegas game?
Bounce back. Jake Oettinger has been average (at best) since his hot start. With the Stars giving up high danger chances (a different story, but with the same result), Oettinger needs to be better for Dallas to succeed.
Broad based scoring. Which of the top three lines steps up? Maybe all three?