Stars' Joel Kiviranta Out for Two-Game Road Trip With Lower-Body Injury

On Wednesday, Dallas Stars depth forward Joel Kiviranta reportedly suffered a lower-body injury and will not make the team's road trip this week. The Stars visit the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, with Kiviranta expected to miss both games.

It's a tough blow for a Dallas team that struggled to generate offense through its first two games of the season, scoring just a single goal over that span, before exploding for five in Monday's win over a Macklin Celebrini-less San Jose Sharks team. 

Kiviranta, 30, was part of that offensive outburst, scoring his first goal of the season and his first since rejoining the Stars after spending the last three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.

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DLLS Sports' Sam Nestler believes Kiviranta may have been hurt early in Monday's contest, when a Tyler Myers slap shot caught him in the right leg. Nestler noted, however, that Kiviranta played the remainder of the game and scored his goal three minutes into the second period, meaning he may have played through the injury and it is relatively minor, or that he suffered it after the fact.

Kiviranta was slotted into a bottom-six role, so Dallas has several options to replace him with the most likely option being Colin Blackwell. Another name to watch could be Cameron Hughes, if they were to call someone up after the 29-year-old was up with the Stars for three games last season and recorded a goal.

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