Dallas Stars vs. Anaheim Ducks: Game Time, Broadcast, Lines, Injuries

After their first loss, the Dallas Stars had a long break to recover and get ready for their game tonight against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Dallas Stars will look to hand the Ducks their first regulation loss of the year.

For tonight’s match-up, the Stars are changing up their lines and their goaltender.

Anton Khudobin will get his first start with the Stars tonight. Ben Bishop has played well so far this season, but after the game against the Leafs, it’s understandable that Jim Montgomery would want to change things up.

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Julius Honka will also get his first game of the season, with Roman Polak sitting out. Polak hasn’t been particularly impressive, so he’s the obvious choice to come out in favor of Honka, rather than Connor Carrick, who has looked like a fantastic pick-up for the Stars so far. However, it does mean Polak will have to wait at least one extra game into November to hit his 700th career game.

The defense will also be shuffled around a bit. Honka will be paired with Marc Methot, while Miro Heiskanen moves down to play with Carrick.

Roope Hintz will sit out for the first time this season, with Jason Dickinson coming in and the lines getting shuffled around. That leaves Gemel Smith as the only non-injured player on the roster that still hasn’t played yet.

Jason Spezza will move down to the fourth line in Hintz’s spot between Brett Ritchie and Valeri Nichushkin. In his place, Devin Shore will center the second line of Mattias Janmark and Blake Comeau. The third line will have Dickinson on the left wing in place of Shore.

The only things staying the same from the first three games are the top forward line and defensive pairing. The five of them have found success this season, so Montgomery understandably wants to keep that going forward.

There’s often the argument that a top line like the Stars have should be broken up to help depth scoring. For example, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews play on different lines, while Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have been split up more often recently. Sometimes that helps, but Ken Hitchcock tried it last year and it didn’t. There’s pros and cons to each side of the debate, but Montgomery’s decision to keep them together while shuffling around the other lines is logical.

Also of note before tonight’s game, the Ducks are missing quite a few players to injury, including captain Ryan Getzlaf, who is still recovering from an injury last week. They’re also missing Nick Ritchie (yes, Brett Ritchie’s brother, if you don’t know) for a different reason, as he is still a contract hold-out.

Game Information

Anaheim Ducks (3-0-1) at Dallas Stars (2-1-0)
7:00 PM CT – American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX
Home TV: FOX Sports Southwest (Josh Bogorad and Daryl Reaugh)
Away TV: Prime Ticket (John Ahlers and Brian Hayward)
Home Radio: Sportsradio 1310 AM and 96.7 FM The Ticket (Josh Bogorad and Daryl Reaugh)
Away Radio: Angels Radio AM 830 (Steve Carroll and Dan Wood)
Online Streaming: NHL.tv, Fubo.tv
Last Season vs. Anaheim: 1-2-0

Projected Dallas Stars Line-Up

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark – Devin Shore – Blake Comeau
Jason Dickinson – Radek Faksa – Tyler Pitlick
Valeri Nichushkin – Jason Spezza – Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg
Marc Methot – Julius Honka
Miro Heiskanen – Connor Carrick

Anton Khudobin

Scratches: Roope Hintz, Roman Polak, Gemel Smith

Dallas Stars Injury Report

Martin Hanzal: Hanzal is out on IR until probably early December with a back injury.

Stephen Johns: Johns is recovering from post-traumatic headaches, with no set timeline for his return.

Anaheim Ducks Injury Report

Patrick Eaves: After missing last season with what was originally diagnosed as Guillain-Barré Syndrome, Eaves will miss this rematch with his former team as well. He said this summer that he was actually misdiagnosed and that he would be good to play this season, but he had surgery on his shoulder after tearing his labrum and isn’t ready to play yet.

Ryan Getzlaf: Getzlaf has been missing all week with a groin injury, and has been listed as questionable, but expected to return soon. He skated this morning, but won’t be back this weekend.

Korbinian Holzer: Holzer injured his wrist before the season started and he’s not expected back until February.

Ondrej Kase: Kase suffered a concussion last week and he’s still out indefinitely on IR.

Corey Perry: Perry tore his MCL in preseason and, like Holzer, isn’t expected back until February.

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Perry’s absence means Stars fans will have to find someone else to boo tonight. Might I suggest Ryan Kesler?

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