Dallas Stars Practice Update: Jamie Benn, Denis Gurianov, Erik Condra
The Dallas Stars held their Thursday afternoon practice at the American Airlines Center. With the Washington Capitals coming to town on Friday, here is what you need to know about what the Stars did on Thursday to prepare.
Thursday afternoon’s practice wasn’t a typical one for the Dallas Stars. For one, they hosted their practice at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. Though they are known for doing it a few times each year and did so since the ice was still out, their practices usually take place at one of the various StarCenters across the metroplex.
But it was also out of the ordinary in the fact that Jamie Benn was not on the ice with the team. Benn left Wednesday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils early after enduring a blindside hit up high from Devils forward Miles Wood. The hit came a few seconds after Benn had sent the puck along the boards into the zone and caught him up high.
Wood and Benn have a bit of a history and fought each other earlier in the year in New Jersey. Following the hit, the captain was slow to get up and left the ice for the remainder of the game. In the postgame press conference, head coach Jim Montgomery said he was held out for precautionary reasons.
His absence from Thursday’s practice once again sparked the question: is Benn okay?
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“Jamie’s not a player right now and he’s day-to-day,” Monty said following the skate.
Montgomery confirmed that Benn was not in concussion protocol and that he is hopeful that Benn can play on Friday night against Washington. If not, the hope is that he can play in Winnipeg on Sunday. Before the season began, Benn had missed just five games from 2014-15 to 2017-18. That’s out of 328 total regular season games, making him one of the most reliable Dallas Stars players over the span.
In addition, Julius Honka exited Wednesday night’s game with another injury that Montgomery described as “precautionary” following the win. Honka was, however, a full participant in today’s practice and Montgomery cleared up his status.
“Julius [Honka] practiced well today and he’s good,” Monty stated.
One of the bigger Dallas Stars notes just before practice had to do with Denis Gurianov being sent back down to the AHL. After tallying two points in his first three starts following a call up in early December, Gurianov had gone six straight games without a point. He was benched early in the second period of the game on New Year’s Eve against Montreal because Montgomery thought that he was watching the game instead of having an impact. The head coach shed some light on Gurianov’s reassignment today after practice.
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“Very similar to Roope [Hintz] that go back down, you could see he was starting to hope to make plays out there. He wasn’t jumping off the TV screen or, if you’re sitting up in the press box, he wasn’t jumping out at you anymore. You weren’t noticing the blazing speed and the dynamic offensive ability, and that happens. It’s a tough league.”
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With his departure and Benn’s status up in the air ahead of Friday night’s contest against the Washington Capitals, the Stars’ lineup could look different. Dallas called up forward Erik Condra (366 games of NHL experience) from the AHL on Thursday afternoon and he might end up starting on Friday. Condra currently leads the Texas Stars in points with 35 and is tied for second in goals with 14.
Monty did not, however, rule out the idea of skating with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, either.
“The games where I’ve gone 11 forwards and seven [defensemen], I’ve really liked it because the players that, maybe when you have four lines set, you can’t give enough ice time to that are having good nights. Sometimes, those guys are on and you want to play them over 16, more towards 18 minutes because it helps our team. That allows us to do it and it gives [Rick Bowness] the luxury of putting players in minutes where they are best suited as defensemen.”
The scheme and lineup will be up in the air until tomorrow morning when the Dallas Stars take the ice at morning skate. And, depending on the status of certain players, it could be uncertain until puck drop.
The Stars spent a good portion of Thursday’s practice working on their power play and penalty kill units, which currently sit 14th (PP) and 9th (PK) in the NHL rankings. Dallas went 1/3 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill in their 5-4 win over the Devils on Wednesday night. It was another big win in which the Stars showcased a lot of their talents, but the road is only getting tougher over the next few days.
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We’ll see how Thursday’s practice prepares them for a Friday night matchup with the Washington Capitals.