Dallas wraps up a three game homestand at the American Airlines Center against the San Jose Sharks Tuesday night.
Without the help of this year's number one overall pick Macklin Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks head to Dallas for their first road game of the season against the undefeated Dallas Stars.
The Stars are back at home to end their three game homestand, fresh off of a Saturday and Sunday back-to-back slate where Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith each recorded a shutout. After a nail-biting finish over Nashville on the road to start out the season, Dallas shut down two deep offensive rosters by defeating the New York Islanders and Seattle Kraken. Now facing the short-handed Sharks, it is a perfect opportunity for Dallas to get off to the best start in the Central Division.
San Jose is 0-1-1 to start off their season, blowing a multi-goal lead to lose to the Blues in overtime and then getting shut out in their last contest at home against the Anaheim Ducks. After turning heads with his exciting playmaking in the season opener, Celebrini was been placed on the injured reserve list and is not on this road trip for the Sharks. Fellow rookie Will Smith is a great young addition to the Sharks roster, but the loss of the number one overall pick is a tough and unexpected blow for a Sharks team that desperately struggled last year.
A familiar face makes his return as Ty Dellandrea will make his first trip back to Dallas after getting traded to the Sharks during the off-season. New Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said that he was one of the best players in their game against Anaheim, and that he has been quite impressed with the former first round draft pick of the Stars.
What to watch for:
- Wyatt Johnston has eight points in six games against the Sharks - five goals and three assists. He also scored his first career hat trick against the Sharks in March of last season.
- Mavrik Bourque makes his season debut tonight. After missing the first three games with an injury sustained in the preseason, Borque draws in for Tyler Seguin. Bourque won the Les Cunningham Award as the American Hockey League's Most Valuable Player last year with the Texas Stars.
- Jason Robertson has 11 points in nine games against the Sharks. He is also riding a six-game points streak against San Jose and is looking to extend it to seven games.
Alexander Petrovic was recalled from the Texas Stars after Matt Dumba was listed as week to week with a lower body injury suffered Saturday. He took an awkward tumble in his second shift against the Islanders, hobbling to the bench after it happened. He finished the first period but did not play in the remaining two frames.
Head coach Pete DeBoer also announced that Tyler Seguin is day to day and would not be in the lineup on Tuesday. DeBoer said that he tweaked something in Sunday's win over Seattle, but it isn't too serious. Sitting him out was more precautionary, and early in the season, there is no reason to push a player back out on the ice to make it worse down the line when games become even more important.
Projected lines:
Robertson-Hintz-Dadonov
Marchment-Duchene-Bourque
Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
Steel-Back-Blackwell
Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Lyubushkin
Smith-Lundkvist
Oettinger
DeSmith
It is possible that Evgenii Dadonov, Borque and Logan Stankoven could shuffle onto different lines at right wing. Last season, Dadonov played well on the second line when filling in for one of the trio on that strong line. Seguin and Marchment both missed time due to injury in the late regular season and playoffs. Stankoven moved to the third line with Wyatt Johnston on Sunday in an effort to get Johnston going, according to DeBoer. It helped propel Johnston to his first goal of the season.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. CDT and can be seen exclusively on Victory+ locally and out of market on ESPN+.
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