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Stars Gameday: 10/6/18 vs. WPG

October 6, 2018, 7:47 AM ET [3 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Dallas Stars Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Dallas Stars (1-0-0) play host to the Winnipeg Jets (1-0-0) in an early season Central Division showdown at the American Airlnes Center on Saturday night. Game time is 6:00 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.

This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season. Last season, the Stars got swept in the season series, losing 5-2 and 4-2 decisions in Winnipeg and 4-1 and 5-3 games at home.

New Starts head coach coach Jim Montgomery enjoyed a 3-0 home win over the Arizona Coyotes in his debut game on Thursday night. Ben Bishop earned a 30-save shutout, including 22 saves over the final 40 minutes, to take first-star honors. Devin Shore, Alexander Radulov and John Klingberg scored closely spaced goals in the second period after a scoreless opening frame.

A game-day decision to scratch defenseman Julius Honka raised some ire among Stars fans, directed at Montgomery, but was quelled temporarily by the team's shutout victory. In his Dallas debut, recently acquired defenseman Connor Carrick recorded a pair of assists.

The Jets opened the season on Thursday with a 5-1 road win over the St. Louis Blues. A first-period power play goal by sniper Patrik Laine stood as the game's only goal until an Adam Lowry shorthanded goal in the early stages of the third period opened the floodgates for Winnipeg. In quick succession, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor expanded the lead to 4-0.

After a mid-period Brandon Tanev goal built a 5-0 cushion for the Jets, the only remaining suspense was whether Connor Hellebuyck would earn a shut out. He did not, yielding a Vince Dunn goal with 5:50 left to play. Nevertheless, Hellebuyck's masterful 40-save performance earned first-start honors.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (Thursday lineups, subject to change)

STARS
14 Jamie Benn – 91 Tyler Seguin – 47 Alexander Radulov
13 Mattias Janmark – 90 Jason Spezza – 15 Blake Comeau
17 Devin Shore – 12 Radek Faksa – 18 Tyler Pitlick
16 Jason Dickinson – 24 Roope Hintz – 25 Brett Ritchie

23 Esa Lindell – 3 John Klingberg
33 Marc Methot – 4 Miro Heiskanen
5 Connor Carrick – 45 Roman Polak

30 Ben Bishop
[35 Anton Khudobin]

Scratches: 6 Julius Honka (healthy), 46 Gemel Smith (healthy), 43 Valeri Nichushkin (day-to-day), Stephen Johns (IR), Martin Hanzal (IR).

JETS
81 Kyle Connor - 55 Mark Scheifele- 26 Blake Wheeler
85 Mathieu Perreault - 18 Bryan Little - 29 Patrik Laine
9 Andrew Copp - 17 Adam Lowry- 13 Brandon Tanev
93 Kristian Vesalainen - 28 Jack Roslovic - 27 Nikolaj Ehlers.

44 Josh Morrissey - 8 Jacob Trouba
7 Ben Chiarot - 33 Dustin Byfuglien
70 Joe Morrow - 57 Tyler Myers

37 Connor Hellebuyck
[30 Laurent Brossoit]

Scratches: 56 Marko Dano (healthy), 5 Dmitry Kulikov (healthy), 48 Brendan Lemieux (healthy),
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