The last thing hockey fans want to hear ahead of a Stanley Cup Playoffs series is the number of injuries a team has heading into a series. The playoffs are a treacherous road, and all it takes is one injury to derail a team's focus heading into a round. For the Stars, getting news about Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen this morning felt like a shot to the chest and a sigh of relief at the same time. Here's more on the injury front as the Stars enter the final regular-season game tonight.
Dallas Stars Injuries: Sam Steel
It's good to hear that Sam Steel will be back in the lineup tonight for the Stars. He's one of those support players who does about anything asked of him. While he's not the player that's going to light up the scoresheet every night, Dallas needs him back to help on the penalty kill, among other things. It will be interesting to see how many minutes he gets tonight against the Sabres. I don't know if Glen Gulutzan is going to push him that much with the playoffs beginning on Saturday, more than likely.
Dallas Stars Injuries: Miro Heiskanen
It was also reported this morning that Heiskanen seemed to be just shaken up after twisting his knee against the Minnesota Wild. Heiskanen is one of the best defensemen in this league, and you can't go into the series against the Wild without him on the ice. According to Jim Nill, it seems like he will be ready to go for Game 1 on Saturday. There's still a chance he could miss the first two games, but today's news was much better than expected.
Dallas Stars Injuries: Nils Lundkvist
It seems like the new dad wasn't sick at all. Nils Lundkvist missed the game on Saturday because his partner gave birth. I'm sure that Gulutzan used illness as an excuse so that all the reporters would call no phone while he would call no one, enjoying the first moments of becoming a dad. He's expected to be ready to go before the playoffs on Saturday. Unless Nils gets queasy before the game on Saturday, expect him to be ready for action.
Dallas Stars Injuries: Roope Hintz
Hintz is the question mark out of all the players who have been injured; he had a setback with the injury he was nursing, and he will be out at least the first two games of the series. This is going to hurt the Stars' offense a bit to begin the series, but with the emergence of Mavrik Bourque, I'm not too worried. Dallas can still win this series without Hintz in the lineup. It's just a matter of whether the Stars want it more than the Wild. Stay tuned for the final regular-season game later tonight. Blackout Dallas will have coverage of the game and more.
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