Meet Me in St. Louis
The Stars lost their first pre-season game in regulation Friday night falling to the St. Louis Blues 3-1. Newcomer Blake Comeau scored the club’s lone goal and presumed No. 3 goaltender Landon Bow stopped 23 of 25 shots in the loss. Dallas will close out the pre-season on Sunday with a home game against the Colorado Avalanche.
The Dock of the Bay
Winger Val Nichushkin and defenseman Stephen Johns were the only projected regulars missing from Friday night’s lineup. Nichushkin is expected to be ready for Opening Night and may even play in Sunday’s pre-season finale. Johns seems unlikely to be ready for the regular season opener at this point. It appears that rookie defenseman Gavin Bayreuther, not veteran Roman Polak, will have the opportunity to play on the third pairing Thursday night against Arizona if Johns is unable to go. Bayreuther has been impressive this pre-season and seems to fit Jim Montgomery’s system quite well.
Man of Constant Sorrow
Remember when Ken Hitchcock came back to Dallas and coached the Stars for one more year? Defenseman Dillon Heatherington certainly does. Much like Bayreuther fitting into Monty’s system, Heatherington was a much better fit in the Hitch style of hockey. Heatherington was placed on league waivers this week – he cleared – and has been assigned to Texas of the AHL. It would appear he is, at best, ninth on the blueline depth chart going into the season.
Brian Roe is the founder and lead writer at The Roe Report. He spent five years working for the Dallas Stars and was a contributor at Hockey’s Future, The Hockey Writers, and NHL Intel. Follow Brian on Twitter @brianproe.
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