4 DAYS AGO•NEWSOBSERVER.COM
Stars recovering from rare home loss when rival Blues visitThe Dallas Stars will try to reestablish their home-ice dominance when they host the St.Louis Blues on Saturday.The Stars were 11-2-0 at hom...
Brendan Smith - Playing time trending downSmith was scratched for the seventh straight game when he sat out Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Predators.
ImpactMatt Dumba (upper body) was unavailable Thursday, but the Stars recalled and played Lian Bichsel rather than have Smith join the lineup. That's not a ringing endorsement on Smith's play so far. The 35-year-old has three helpers, eight shots on net, 11 PIM, 18 hits, 11 blocked shots and a minus-2 rating over 12 outings, though he hasn't earned a point since Nov. 14. He hasn't played since going minus-4 in a game versus the Blackhawks on Nov. 27.
4 DAYS AGO•ROTOWIRE
Kevin Gravel - Earns helper in season debutGravel posted an assist and went plus-3 in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Stars.
ImpactGravel had not earned a point in the NHL since 2022-23, when he had one assist over 23 games. He didn't play in the NHL in 2023-24, spending nearly the whole campaign with AHL Milwaukee. The Predators are dealing with a number of injuries on the blue line, so Gravel was called up to provide reinforcements, but he'll likely head back to the AHL once one of Roman Josi (lower body), Jeremy Lauzon (lower body) or Alexandre Carrier (upper body) is cleared to play again.
4 DAYS AGO•ROTOWIRE
Adam Wilsby - Earns first career assistWilsby notched an assist, two shots on goal and a plus-4 rating in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Stars.
ImpactWilsby nearly also had his first career goal, but it was wiped out on a review. The 24-year-old will have to settle for his first assist and an excellent defensive performance instead. He's posted a plus-5 rating, 10 shots on net, five hits and five blocked shots over eight outings while picking up bottom-four minutes in the absences of Jeremy Lauzon (lower body) and Alexandre Carrier (upper body).
4 DAYS AGO•ROTOWIRE
Zachary L'Heureux - Fills empty cageL'Heureux scored an empty-net goal on three shots, added three hits and went plus-2 in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Stars.
ImpactIt's an encouraging sign L'Heureux remained in the lineup over Juuso Parssinen and Fedor Svechkov with the returns of Ryan O'Reilly (lower body) and Gustav Nyquist (illness). L'Heureux was on the fourth line, but that's where he's been for a majority of the campaign anyway. He's got two points over his last three outings and a total of seven points, 30 shots on net, 74 hits and a minus-7 rating through 25 appearances to begin his rookie year.
4 DAYS AGO•ROTOWIRE
Tommy Novak - Finds twine in Thursday's winNovak scored a goal on two shots in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Stars.
ImpactNovak has scored in back-to-back games, though his ice time could be set to drop soon. Ryan O'Reilly returned from a lower-body injury Thursday and looks set to fill a second-line role moving forward, which would leave Novak as the third-line center unless he moves to the wing. The 27-year-old has five goals, one assist, 42 shots on net and 10 blocked shots over 23 appearances this season, so he hasn't done much to earn a larger role despite recording at least 43 points in each of the previous two campaigns.
4 DAYS AGO•ROTOWIRE
Matt Dumba - Not playing SaturdayDumba (upper body) will not play Saturday against St. Louis, Brian Rea of FanDuel Sports Network Southwest reports.
ImpactDumba will miss his second straight game as coach Peter DeBoer said Friday that Dumba is not week-to-week but he is not day-to-day. Dumba has one assist in 19 games this season. He was replaced by Lian Bichsel on Thursday and the 20-year-old defenseman potted his first goal in his NHL debut.
4 DAYS AGO•ROTOWIRE
