The Dallas Stars play their first game of the season on the road against the Nashville Predators.
The regular season is finally here for the Dallas Stars, who kick off their season on a one game road trip in Nashville before coming back to Dallas for their home opener on Saturday.
Dallas went 5-0-1 in the preseason and the Predators went 2-3-0. Nashville had one of their preseason games against Tampa Bay canceled due to weather.
The Stars have recorded points in 13 of their last 15 appearances at Bridgestone Arena, including four consecutive wins.
Nashville spent a lot of money this offseason trying to change the theme of barely squeaking into the playoffs scenario they've found themselves in the last several years. They added several players including Steven Stamkos from Tampa, Brady Skjei from Carolina, Jonathan Marchessault from Vegas and of course Scott Wedgewood from Dallas.
What to watch for:
- Oskar Back will make his NHL debut. The 24 year-old has spent the last three seasons in the AHL with the Texas Stars. He has been one of their more consistent players, averaging around 30 points per season. He should slot in on the fourth-line and on the penalty kill.
- Wyatt Johnston remains on the third line with Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov rather than taking Joe Pavelski's spot at right wing on the top line next to Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson. Johnston scored 65 points in his sophomore season, catching fire at the end of the year and through the playoffs.
- Logan Stankoven will instead take Pavelski's spot on the top line. The rookie was called up at the end of last season, lighting the NHL on fire as soon as he got called up. Stankoven recorded seven points in five preseason games with four goals and three assists.
- Juuse Saros was announced as day-to-day, suggesting that the Stars could face a goalie duo of probable starter Scott Wedgewood and backup Matt Murray. Both of those goalies were on the Stars last season and were acquired by the Predators during the off-season. Wedgewood put up a .899% save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.85 last season. Murray posted a shutout in his lone start for Dallas last year, spending most of his time in the AHL.
Projected lines:
Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Steel-Back-Blackwell
Heiskanen-Dumba
Lindell-Lundkvist
Harley-Lyubushkin
Oettinger
DeSmith
Mavrik Bourque is out with an injury that he sustained at the beginning of the preseason. Borque has been unable to play since leaving mid-game in one of the first exhibition contests. Brendan Smith will be the healthy scratch as the seventh defenseman. The defensive pairings are still a work in progress, but after trying several different combinations during the preseason, this seems to be the six that head coach Pete DeBoer feels will give Dallas the most depth for the start of the regular season.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. CDT and can be seen exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.
- Follow Taylor on Twitter: @THN_taylor