The Dallas Stars hosted the St. Louis Blues at the American Airlines Center tonight for the first preseason game on the Stars' schedule this year. It was a pretty heavy prospect team tonight with a few Stars from last season mixed into the lineup. Even though training camp started a couple of days ago, the Stars looked decent in the 2-1 shootout win over the Blues. Let's look at some takeaways from tonight's preseason tilt against the Blues.
Antoine Bibeau stands tall in the shootout and the @DallasStars are 1-0 to start the preseason 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5L2Xi4MvUS
— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) September 21, 2025
Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 4. Mavrik Bourque came up huge in the second period
Even though he isn't a prospect, another player I'm keeping an eye on during preseason is Mavrik Bourque. With the offseason losses due to free agency, Mavrik is one of the players who needs to step up and produce goals for the team. Mavrik was right on the doorstep and hammered home the puck past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at one. I'm sure Glen Gulutzan was happy to see him score a goal for all the hard work Bourque had against the Blues tonight.
Bourque on the doorstep 👏@budlight | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/8qoZomVbov
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 21, 2025
Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 3. Physicality was present in the first period
It didn't take long for the Stars to get into a scrap with their division rivals. Justin Hryckowian and Nathan Walker dropped the gloves six minutes into the first period. While it didn't spark a goal for the Stars, I was happy to see some physicality in the first period. That's something Glen Gulutzan will be keeping an eye on if they need to call up a player from the Texas Stars in case of an injury. Hryckowian might have made a good first impression on that front.
First game of the preseason // first scrap of the preseason 🍿 pic.twitter.com/zW9SnJnh8X
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 21, 2025
Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 2. I was disappointed in the Blues playing Jordan Binnington
I was a little disappointed at the St. Louis Blues for playing Jordan Binnington in the first preseason game of the year. Now, if it were the last preseason game on the schedule for them, I wouldn't be mad at all. However, I think that the first preseason game should be for prospects that the team plans to send back to the junior clubs.
However, I'm sure the Blues had another goalie prospect they could have brought down for tonight's tilt against the Stars. If the Blues wanted to start Binnington, there are five other games on their preseason schedule he could have started. Binnington has nothing to prove since he's going to be the starting goaltender. It could have been bad for the Blues if somehow he got hurt, like tearing his Achilles or ACL.
Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 1. Power play could use some work
I'm trying to be positive because I know tonight's power play lines won't be the lines when the season starts, and Mikko Rantanen is on the top power play line. However, it didn't look great with all the passing of the puck. The Stars might as well be called the Dallas Globetrotters if they are going to make all those passes. I hope Gulutzan will work with the players behind the scenes during training camp because the power play looked really rough.