GDT: [#4] Dallas Stars @ Tampa Bay Lightning - 6:30 PM CST

[LT]

Starting Line-up

Left Wing | Center | Right Wing
Jamie Benn | Tyler Seguin | Patrick Sharp
Antoine Roussel | Jason Spezza | Ales Hemsky
Mattias Janmark | Cody Eakin | Colton Sceviour
Curtis McKenzie | Vernon Fiddler | Travis Moen

Left Defense | Right Defense
Alex Goligoski | John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya | Jason Demers
Jordie Benn | Jyrki Jokipakka

Goaltenders
Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi

Scratches
Valeri Nichushkin
Patrik Nemeth
Jamie Oleksiak

Injured
Brett Ritchie (wrist)
Patrick Eaves (ankle)

Leading Scorers | Goals | Assists | Points
Jason Spezza | 3 | 1 | 4
Ales Hemsky | 1 | 3 | 4
Mattias Janmark | 2 | 1 | 3
Jamie Benn | 1 | 2 | 3
Tyler Seguin | 0 | 2 | 2

Starting Lineup

Left Wing | Center | Right Wing
Jonathan Drouin | Steven Stamkos | Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat | Tyler Johnson | Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn | Valtteri Filppula | Erik Condra
Vladislav Namestnikov | Brian Boyle | J.T. Boyle

Left Defense | Right Defense
Victor Hedman | Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison | Braydon Coburn
Matt Carle | Andrej Sustr

Goaltenders
Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Pictures coming soon...
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Click to read more...

 

[LT]

Best guess as to the lineups as of now. Will update them once I see them on Twitter.

Pictures coming later today too, unless someone beats me to that (I'll edit them in).

 

[LT]

Lineup updated. Nichushkin scratched again, McKenzie in. Janmark and Hemsky split up.

Odd.

 

[Ajacied]

Geez.. Nichushkin is really in the doghouse if Sceviour and McKenzie get the nod. Hope he comes out of this playing with an edge. Will be especially hard for him when Ritchie returns.

Not understanding scratching Nemeth, either, even though Jokipakka and Benn have actually played decent so far.

 

[Mr Misty]

Tough to bench Jordie after his 22:1 shots for/against game vs Edmonton

 

[Satan]

Jokipakka and Jordie and corsi Kings

 

[LoneStarHockey]

Let's Go Stars!

I hope to see another solid performance tonight, we need to accumulate as many points on the road trip as possible.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Hope so, too. However, the pessimist in me predicts trouble ahead. Over the last few years, we have matched up the worst against TB than any other team, based on the games I have seen. Of course, Bishop is the reason in most cases, but they have as much speed and more size than we do.

They do need to get more than 50% of the points out of this first road trip, though.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

I know he is still so young, but do Stars fans see the team potentially using nichushkin eventually in a deal to address any needs?

I just hate seeing young guys as healthy scratches... either send him to AHL or trade him

 

[LoneStarHockey]

Yeah, the Stars will definitely have their hands full tonight with the Lightning. This will be a very early game that measures where we stack up with a very good team.

Quotables:
Ruff said he doesn't expect the Lightning to be as generous with space on the ice and the Stars will need more production from their top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Sharp.

I think Tampa's gap is going to be tighter," Ruff said. "We're not going to get as much ice, we won't get as much time to make plays. But still they are going to have to be our best line."

Benn said the Lightning's defense provides a challenge with their length and speed. And goalie Ben Bishop's 6-foot-7 frame doesn't leave a lot of open space in the net.

"You have to make him move because he pretty much covers the whole net when he's just standing there," Benn said. "He's got a good team in front of him too, which helps."

Defenseman Anton Stralman said the Stars' skilled forwards will provide a tough challenge, but it's important to win home games early in the season.

"They are a fast team with a lot of power up front," Stralman said. "We have to make sure we're on top of our game. These home games, we only have three out of the first 10, are important. We need to play our best and it starts [Thursday]. This is going to be a tough one."

 

[masinaLFC]

I know he is still so young, but do Stars fans see the team potentially using nichushkin eventually in a deal to address any needs?

I just hate seeing young guys as healthy scratches... either send him to AHL or trade him

Scratches can only help him.. because it is impossible to play worse than he did last couple of games

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Scratches can only help him.. because it is impossible to play worse than he did last couple of games

I just hate seeing a young guy benched for a period of time when he can be playing in the AHL. If hes benched or demoted, either way he will get the hint to get his ass in gear.... but Id rather almost just keep him in AHL for the whole season and let him develop. Him missing all of last year is HUGE and he may need a season in the minors now

 

[Ghost of Kyiv]

Scratches can only help him.. because it is impossible to play worse than he did last couple of games

Specifically, what did he do? To me at least he has been pretty much invisible, but invisible is far from bad. I mean, he has certainly got run over by a couple of great hits, but in no way did that negatively impact the Stars...only thing that came as a result of those hits is that it made Avs fans temporarily forget Nick Holden can't play hockey. Stars have been fine when he is on the ice, they haven't let a goal in either of the games or really in inordinate amount of scoring chances that I can remember when he was on the ice (and certainly not because of him).

 

[masinaLFC]

Specifically, what did he do? To me at least he has been pretty much invisible, but invisible is far from bad. I mean, he has certainly got run over by a couple of great hits, but in no way did that negatively impact the Stars...only thing that came as a result of those hits is that it made Avs fans temporarily forget Nick Holden can't play hockey. Stars have been fine when he is on the ice, they haven't let a goal in either of the games or really in inordinate amount of scoring chances that I can remember when he was on the ice (and certainly not because of him).

yeah.. he did absolutely nothing, while playing with spezza and sharp.. he needs some time in the AHL imo..

 

[Ghost of Kyiv]

yeah.. he did absolutely nothing, while playing with spezza and sharp.. he needs some time in the AHL imo..

2 games (25 minutes total) of doing nothing, that tends to happen every now and then. Its the NHL, hard to be good 82 games in a row. As long as a player isn't actively hurting his team, which he's not, "impossible to play worse than he did last couple of games" seems like more than just a little hyperbole.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Is Niemi starting tonight for you guys?

 

[Ghost of Kyiv]

Is Niemi starting tonight for you guys?

Looks like Kari is in tonight.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Looks like Kari is in tonight.

Thanks

 

[masinaLFC]

2 games (25 minutes total) of doing nothing, that tends to happen every now and then. Its the NHL, hard to be good 82 games in a row. As long as a player isn't actively hurting his team, which he's not, "impossible to play worse than he did last couple of games" seems like more than just a little hyperbole.

well, he was the worst player on the ice for the stars even when travis moen is playing.. and obviously the coaches think so too.. but I hope he will get better

 

[Satan]

Less than 3 mins in and we're ready to leave the building. What a piss poor start.

 

[ugrakarma]

Giving Stamkos an open slot isn't the wisest of decisions.

 

[masinaLFC]

okay.. that was terrible start

 

[Ghost of Kyiv]

Seguin?! tough to tell

Edit: Heck yeah

 

[Satan]

lmao Seguin


didnt deserve it but we'll take it.

 

[Ghost of Kyiv]

Love that play by Demers