Stars Carry 5-Game Point Streak Into Showdown With Stanley Cup Champs – Game 12 | DLLS STARS PREGAME

Stars Carry 5-Game Point Streak Into Showdown With Stanley Cup Champs – Game 12 | DLLS STARS PREGAME

But to be the man, you got to beat the man. And I’m saying right here. That is a great drop, Ric Flair. I don’t care what John Cooper said on Thursday. When you face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, whether they’re injured or not, it’s a measuring stick. It’s a test. Yeah, Cooper said 32 teams, 31 other tests, but you know what? Stars need to test themselves tonight in Florida against the Panthers. And we get to it now with the pregame. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] This is the DLLS. Les Stars pregame show on Saturday, November 1st. That’s right. We’re out of October, one month into the NHL season. And the Stars will play the twotime defending Stanley Cup champions going for a three repeat this year, the Florida Panthers. Alongside Craig Ledwig, I’m Owen Newkerk. We’ve got Ryan Va as our producer. As always, before we get into the meat and potatoes of today’s show, let’s talk about our new t-shirt drops. Luds is wearing the old one. We’ll show you that in a minute. But this is the faceoff collection. This is the newest drop here on our hockey theme shirts. Great looking shirts. We’re under 10 officially. I know the other day we heard from GM Ben. He said it was about nine or so. We have a goal this week. He was trying to say by the end of the postgame Thursday night. We said, “No, no, no. Saturday’s game is part of this week. So, we need all your help because not only do we want to get a free shirt, GM Ben said if we sold 25, you guys bought 25 of those shirts, not individually, but collectively, he’d get us all shirts. And then, of course, this guy will tell you in the postgame show or even the pregame show. What he may or may not be thinking about. I didn’t realize I’m off the hook if that doesn’t right. Wow. That’s That’s You set the rules, so that’s totally up to you. Are you looking for a way out? No, I’m not. I’m I’ve already taken out a loan for it, so I’m good to go. I thought it was I wore that shirt, you’ll buy my beer. But I thought we had to get to the number. If we get to the number of 25. Well, I mean, then I think that’s fair, right? So, you’ll have to cash in some other currency. But if you want to get the beer that LSDs promised you at our event on December 7th, we got to get to 25. I I think that’s how it played out, right? Don’t be so just you just produce over there. You don’t have to give me the encounter. Well, Luds is wearing one of the great deals shirts that’s from the Dallas collection. Very sharp looking one. I’ve got one of the Mike Madano 16bit ones. Tio is wearing his green moose shirt. Bobby wore the moose shirt the other day when he filled in for you that last segment. I pulled out the Jamie Ben one and when I put it on, apparently somehow some bleach got splashed all over and I got these little brown dots all over the place. I would think that Well, Kim has an idea that I’m going to take a marker to them and just kind of color them all. Maybe that worked. I don’t know. Interesting. You couldn’t somehow get the visor to disappear, but they’re, you know, they’re all from here down. But you know, you can probably Well, that’s buy another buy a couple more of those new Face Off collection shirts. Luds needs to replace the Jamie Ben Captain one. Was it bleacher to smell like what? Never mind. Oh, he’s he’s making an inappropriate joke, I believe. I Yeah, I’m just not I’m ignoring him. Okay. Um Ryan, I’m going to send you a photo in Slack. if you can pull it up a little bit later, let me know because we ju just I literally just saw it and uh really cool little thing by the stars. Um which we’ll talk about. But let’s get into some of the details of this game. I think we start with the lineup news. That’s there is a little bit of news for today. So back to 12 and six. Back back to 12 and six or is it back? It’s back. Back to 12 and six. Back to 12 and six. Thank you. I appreciate the correction because he’s right. Oscar Beck is back in the light. like Beck back. Yeah, there you go. That’s tough to say, but it is. And so, Luds, this is a big deal because the Stars have had to go with 11 and seven the last two games, and that’s just thrown things off a little bit. Now, look, they’re still missing rope hence, Matt Duchain, Jamie Ben up front. That throws things off a little bit. That throws things off, I think, more than 11 and seven. But having four full forward groups, having six defenseman instead of seven still matters. That is still a thing. Rhythm. You you have better rhythm. You you know, and I think right now, es even with Gully, even as much as he kind of, you know, tapped ends the putting certain players and trying to mix and match and find things, you like to have that steadied, you know. I think the players like it, too. I mean, because they’re, you know, we can kind of roll and and sometimes when you’re playing, you know, short as a forward, you’re always kind of or at least some of them are kind of looking around guessing, you know, who am I going to be with next? And the other thing is it’s taxing on, you know, the Rantons and, you know, Robos and those guys that are playing extra minutes because of that. Even though they like it, but it’s a little taxing. They do like it, but it will add up over the course of a week or a season. And then you wonder about that. Speaking of which, Casey De Smith will get the starting goal tonight. The Stars have played nine games. Jake started 11 of them. Now, their schedule so far, for the most part, has allowed for this, but Gully keeps saying this, and we’ve talked about this with many coaches. They’re adamant that in today’s NHL, that if you get into these 60 to 65 games played during the regular season, it can be a negative effect energy-wise for goalies when they hit the playoffs. I don’t know how Patrick W did it. I don’t know how Mart did it. Maybe better defense in front of them so they weren’t facing 30 plus shots. Belffor those guys played I mean I I remember Scott Clemenson was the backup for a long time for Martin Berdor he would play 10 games a year because Marty played 72. Yeah. And then played playoffs and won cups and it was okay. Yeah. Again that’s what those guys will say. Well we won two three Stanley Cups. I mean what what’s wrong with playing a lot? I think though, you know, there it’s a different breed and and we I think we argue all the time now and and we go back to the day and you go, well, that now the travel is so much better than it was in the past, you know? So, it’s not commercial flights. It’s not Yeah. I mean, you got it’s luxury everywhere you go when you get into places when you’re supposed to get in and the meals on the planes and and everything is better. And so you would you would think that they would be able to almost play more games, but and what you hear from goalie coaches and goalies that I know, it’s the way that they play the game now. You know, they’re more down on their knees and they’re using the V8 or VH or whatever they’re all called. And and so it’s a little bit more wear and tear on them. And I think that’s what they’re trying to preserve for these guys when they get to that proper time of the season. They’re as healthy as they can be. That’s a good point because if you’re a stand-up goalie and somebody takes a shot and your defenseman blocks it, you’re still standing. Yeah. If you’re a butterfly goalie, which they all are now, every time you see a shot, you drop down to the butterfly even if you don’t make the save. In fact, I talked to Jake about this a couple weeks ago and he said he almost he said, “Obviously, you love it when defenseman block shots, but if you make the effort to go post to post to make a save and they don’t get it on net, he goes, you almost wish you do because you did all the work to make the save, you like to get credit for a save.” Yeah. Well, and you know, the other thing is is I I think you have to take in account how good the players are now and they’re able to go more east west with the passing. You know, we talk about defensively always playing in the right spot and defenseman making sure that once you get to a certain area, the goalender can come out and challenge, but they have the capability now, these young players, to make passes and the saucer passes and and they’re and they’re just unbelievably skilled. And so, I I think there’s probably more high danger chances um and from the from the point of going from from east to west and and goalenders are just on the move that much more now. Well, let’s take a look at the Stars lineup today as we expect to see. So, Oscar Beck, as you can see in the fourth line, we’ll see for sure when they start the game, but the expectation is is that he’ll slot right in with Fox and Bastion. Obviously, the top six has been pretty consistent with the injury to hints and of course Duchain. Adam Ernie gets his first NHL goal the other night or sorry first Dallas Stars goal first NHL goal in a couple years and playing with Ritz Kovian and Blackwell and Ernie continues to to be a real bright spot in that bottom six. He’s a horse you know and I I think he just comes to work every night and he understands the reason he was on a PTO when he came here and then earned himself a contract is because he played the right way. I mean he he is a north south kind of guy and he’s a big body. He he finishes every night. It seems like he’s got minimum six checks, you know. So, it’s nice to see from the forward group. You got Bishell in the back end that generally has six or seven at minimum. So, it’s nice to have that kind of a guy. And I think he and the other things that he does, he goes to the front of the net. I mean, he’s again, he’s a big body and he makes good plays in tight at times. So I think he’s got again he’s probably not going to slide up to where take Sam Steel place even though you know that’s where Sam Steel has been playing this year but he’s probably not going to be in your top six but he’s found a perfect spot here. Ryan I’d like to go to video five uh the clip with Glenn Gullson on the physicality because Les just mentioned that the guys in the bottom six and Liam Bishell getting their hit. Well Gully was asked about where the improvement of physicality is at 11 games into the season and here’s his answer. you know, we’re trying, especially with our bottom our bottom guys and I think if you look at our our our bottom six, uh they they’ve they’ve done well. You know, they’ve chipping in with goals and um they’ve been physical and and drove some play. So, um we’re we’re getting everything we need there. Um you know, from from our bottom guys, they’re doing their job and we are trying to be more physical because that’s what it’s going to come down to. The physicality actually amps amps up. So, we’ve got to get get used to that, too. So, we talked at the start of the year that’s something that was mentioned in the room, not only by myself, but the players and and they’re taking it in into their own hands. So, I don’t know if I’m reading between the lines on this, but he complimented the bottom six guys for the physicality, but he also didn’t mention the top six guys. Do you feel that across the board there’s enough physicality improvement so far knowing you still have 70 games to go? 71. Yeah, as much as you you can. And I mean it, you know, in the beginning, well, in the summer when Gully was h signed, he, you know, he had kind of put it on everybody. We want 1% out of everybody that adds up the next 20%. But the other thing that you have to think about there, and yeah, you’d like your offensive guys to be a little bit more physical, but Nico Renon’s got the puck quite a bit and hence when he’s healthy, he’s got the puck quite a bit and Ron will hit a guy even when he has the puck is someone. Yeah. He just does or they run into him go down. Yeah. So, I I mean, you you would you always want as guys down in the lineup, you always want to see your superstars doing the things that you have to do to stay in the lineup, but you also realize that they’re generally the part of the reason that you win hockey games because they’re the ones that are are leading the charge offensively. And when they have the puck all the time, you typically don’t get a ton of hits. Take a quick look at the Stars defense and goending. As we mentioned, Casey Smith will get the start in goal tonight. It’ll be his third appearance so far of the year. Didn’t have a great game against Vancouver. they lost at home. Much much better in his second outing on the road in Nashville and a big reason why they won that game and they’re hoping for that same thing again today. Well, I mean, you think if you look at game one, we we thought between the the preeason and when he played that game was a couple weeks, you know, and what do they talk about all the time? They want to keep guys in the Yeah, exactly. Get them in a rhythm and, you know, get them in there. Don’t let them sit and become stale. And and I think we’ve seen what happens when Casey gets a nice proper break in between games. As far as the other injuries, Robe Hence did not make the trip, so we won’t have any updates until at least Monday at practice the next time they get ready to play Edmonton on Tuesday. That’ll be a big game for Glen Gullison, of course, and the Stars at home. And then Matt Duchain did go on the trip just like Oscar Beck, but Duchain is still dayto-day. It’s frustrating for people because they want to know when he’s coming back. And Gully basically said that he’s not in a protocol, but we literally have to see how he’s feeling. he gets put through a a skate, how does he respond? And let’s we’ve been through this. Like when guys go through hits up high like that and they have to get their way back through, it’s now about how each individual feels. They can’t just follow, you know, okay, five days and you’ll be good to go because each one of these injuries is unique. Yeah. It’s funny they say he’s not in protocol. Yeah. But there seems like he was we know what the injury was. Yeah. and and and protocol. And what I think they mean by that is when you start to exercise and if you get a headache in a certain period of time, you take two or three days off. That’s protocol. Yep. Here you’re it seems like he’s on his own. But the whole visor thing is another thing for me. I mean, you’re going from a a darker visor to a lighter one. And and and I’m sure Matt would prefer to play with the clear ones because I don’t which is what he normally does. And I don’t remember if he’s ever played with a dark one. There’s been a few players that have. Remember that big giant one, the longer one after he got the puck up and he’s wearing that one that was down below. Yeah. But but again that very long but and again I think the reason is and I know again just with a couple of ar is is that is for the tint because of the lights and stuff. So I don’t know what protocol means or doesn’t but but I think there’s just some maybe there’s just the lingering effects that he has. Maybe hopefully they’re getting smaller and smaller to where he’s going to feel comfortable that he can make it into a game most importantly. But then what’s even more important than that is that he can play the next game and then the next game and then the next. Up next, we’re going to talk about the goalie matchup. We’re going to look at the Florida lineups. We’re going to hear from Miro Hasten and Thomas Harley. We have a whole bunch to get to all of that coming up here on the DLS Stars pregame show. I think we’re going to revisit the shirts, aren’t we? Let’s take a take a look at the the new DLLS collection. The green one and the black one. It’s the uh the the Dallas hockey one, the green one, and also the black one up there on top of three stars, which we’ve decided that is a star or it’s an A. It’s either one of them. But again, let let’s clarify some of this stuff. As long as I got an opportunity to talk here, I thought the deal was and I think Owen’s on my side. Ryan’s not on my side, which doesn’t matter what Ryan feels on your side, my opinion. No, you still want me to buy the beers. I’m going to buy you beers if you’re there. You’re fine. You’re good. But if they do get alls we know is that Ben said that if we’re 25 of these total shirts were bought prior to a date, which now apparently we’re span expanding the date, right? No, no, no, no. He was trying to shorten and I’m fighting to keep it okay to what it originally was. This is the day. He was basically saying if we had it through this week and then he tried to say on Thursday night after Thursday’s postgame show that it was over. Yeah. And I said, “No, no, no. We still have a game against the I didn’t hear you saying no, no, no. Well, it was inside. I would have agreed with him. I would have heard that. But regardless, if that happens, we got a little event coming up. Trying to get out of the beer. I’m not going to get a beer. I like beer. So, what we’re going to do is if you if you wear one of these two shirts to the Hooters part of this event, which starts at around 1 or 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I believe. I think we’re probably going to do the pregame show around 2 and we’re going to the game and all the whole nine yards thing. But there will be some beer for the folks that wear those shirts to that event. Now, the big question came into play is that do they have to be part of the ones that are going to the game or is it just anybody that buys it? I’m saying anybody. Oh, generous money bags l just making it rain. I love it. Let’s talk about the supporters club because I can see be 100 in just buying beer for everybody here. I It would be great. Buy your shirts. You have to wear one of those face off collector shirts. Supporters club, we added a new emoji. I believe is a tank. They also had another one that looks like the number five. I I heard that last last show. What is the tank? What is the It’s literally a military tank. Can you see that? That’s got to be in reference to somebody. That’s a great question. So, do you use it as Mo because he’s a moose? He’s like a tank. I mean, and Robo does a lot of things with the military and I just wondered if that had anything. I was just curious. I’m not sure. I I probably have to get some clarity. Has anybody got a nickname tank? I don’t think so. It was Logan Stanovven who’s not on the team anymore. No, the players called him Tank. Oh, okay. Which I kind of liked cuz he’s sort of built like a tank. How about Cowboys? Maybe the Cowboys to tank because they’re not any good. So, maybe get a higher draft pick or something like that. What? Yeah. So, now we’re putting emojis on our show for the Cowboys. Well, it’s all of them. So, well, I got a couple. Can we get a Packers logo then up here? You can ask. I just did. I don’t know if you’ll get it, but you can ask. Join the supporters club. Check out our Halloween special video. That’s content only for those who signed up. And of course, you can see Oh, the number five. That’s Paige Buckets. Thank you, Tio. Very good call. That’s Lud’s favorite WNBA players, Paige Bucket. All right. Speaking of having a little fun. Guess what? Oh, yeah. That’s That’s something. I think I think he wears the mullet better than I do, especially the blonde one. But guess what? It is currently time for the PNC Bank Mullet Report. So, here’s our pick our pick for our favorite hockey hair from around the NHL. on Luds. Today we decided to go with your teammate Darien Hatcher. Look at that flow. Yeah, Hatch. He still has the head of hair. He He still does. And he’s still just as big. He’s Well, actually, he’s bigger, but but yeah, it’s funny. Hatch’s come back and played in a couple of our alumni events and we’ve done a couple things for cancer and things like that. Hatch comes back and so he doesn’t move quite as quick as he used to, but regardless, it’s good to see. I’m glad you have him on there. Yeah. Well, we we had a couple. We had you. I I I know. Can’t We had Jogger. We had to have another Dallas Star. Yeah. And I can’t really There’s got to be somebody else. I I can’t remember. It didn’t It didn’t seem like it was that big of a thing then. Well, there we have some others in the in the the hopper ready to go. Yeah. But you But you’re going back probably in the 80, right? That’s in the 90s right there. Now then, then. Yes. But there are still players with I mean, honestly, the kids are doing it now. My nephew Oh, no. I know. Well, we should get some of the guys from Minnesota. Oh, we should do the Minnesota high school hockey cuz it is. We should get them dudes. Wonderfully grow is the way I would call it. Well, you can pick up your free Dallas Stars hockey hair hat. Looks just like this. Look at that. See, this is all coming together cuz I’ve seen these little banners hanging from the street lights for weeks now and I never knew what the hell was going on. Now I finally figured it out. Well, you can pick up your free Dallas Stars hockey hair hat pregame at PNC Plaza, compliments of PNC Bank on November 4th and 6th at PNC’s popup main get it Main Street branch. And of course, come hang out with us. We’ll be there on the 6th as part of this event. We’ll be out there on PNC Plaza right the Durk statue and the Madano this shirt right here. No purchases necessary. One per person while supplies last. Copyright 2025. the PNC Financial Services Group Incorporated, PNC Bank, an official partner of the Dallas Star. Okay. Should I leave it on for the rest of the pregame show? Yeah, you might as well. Might as well. All right. So, Luds, I you have a couple clips that you asked for and I want and I have an extra bonus one for you from Miro. So, but the first one was Miro speaking on and we’ll play it and then I want your take on why on the keys to creating more offense. It feels like probably we’re thinking a little too much, you know. play more with your instincts and um and work work a little harder, compete a little harder and I think that’s the that’s the key how we can you know get more offensive uh offensive game game for us. So it’s um I think those those are the keys I when you when it’s doesn’t it always seem like when any athlete doesn’t know the answer to what it should be you work harder and compete harder and that’s what it’s going to be. I I agree. But but there when you look I see and I started thinking about this whole thing cuz I looked at Stars five on five goals, four goals against stuff. This Dallas Stars, we’re we’re not used to being in this this neighborhood. Dallas Stars are 30th in the league in five on five goals scored and 29th in goals again. That’s pretty low. Five that’s low. I mean, you only got two more spots to go. So, it got me thinking and so then I started taking a look at the lineup and I and I grabbed the lineup and I look at it and the same one that we have tonight and I’m starting to look at the players and where they are. Look at how many players are actually elevated. Sam Steel again, Sam Steel was a really good thirdline guy. Sam Steel has gone from playing an average of 14 minutes a night to 17 and a half. Okay, even Tyler Sean. Tyler Sean’s normally down in that number two spot over there on the right hand side, but so he his minutes are up about a minute, minute and a half. I know it doesn’t seem like Adam Ernie. Well, he’s never played here before like So, so we got a zero there. Rovian hasn’t played any games. Yeah. Yep. Radic Foxa Foxa’s been up and down the lineup. Okay. His minutes are actually up and Bastion Bastion’s minutes surprisingly are down, but regardless is last year he only played in like 50 some games. So, not being a regular guy. And then you got Petravic whose minutes are down a little bit which I kind of thought u I was surprised by that one. But when you look at the guys that are elevating the lineup, you you have to understand that the same bullets that were in the gun aren’t there right now. And and then you have to look at the and sounds not good. The guys that are playing with those guys cuz they’re used to playing with guys that are typically have maybe the same kind of skill set. So to me that has a lot to do with it’s the injuries. It goes back to the injuries and guys are being elevated. injuries or we were still missing come in here start of the year that top six that that that second line spot on the left hand side was missing and it’s still missing now there’s a couple other spots missing so that’s where they are so it’s not really about harder work it’s just the hand that you’re dealt right well we’re going to hear from Thomas Harley in a minute who also had some sort of funny answers to some of the questions that Mike Hikah asked him because he was sort of dismissing of yeah we’re going to try harder we’ll do this but I I actually want to ask Thomas based on that I said hey you always get these questions questions in the interviews and you keep saying it’s not that that that complicated. Well, we’re going to hear from that in a minute, but I had another quote from Mero Luds where he says basically stars are far from being at their best right now. No, it’s always good thing that we can, you know, get some points and and everything, but I think it’s a we’re far away from our best and I think we can be a lot a lot better. Uh, you know, I think in every aspect of our game, you know, we’re defending a lot right now and and Chey has to make a lot of big saves. So, you know, try to help him help him out a little more and and play more offensive zone. And I think that’s the that’s the important part. Everything I just got done saying is about that. If you don’t if you’re defending more and you don’t have the parts to keep it in there for the amount of time that you generally keep it in the offensive zone, you’re naturally going to be back in your end and then you got to find a way to get it back out of your zone. Kind of keep it keep the puck instead of having to dump it from one end to the other. So you’re you know those kind of key pieces like I said are not right there. Now the Stars did not play a particularly good game against Tampa Bay Light except but Tampa played really well. Jakeer was very good and they defended okay but you’re right Tampa didn’t Jake got Jake earned that team a point. Yeah, he maybe stole him a point, but they also had an opportunity with the tie hockey game and a five on three to win the game. Had their one of their, you know, red hot power play scored in four straight games, but they were unsuccessful in the five on three. Well, Mike, when he was doing the interviews yesterday after their practice in Florida, asked Thomas Harley about the struggle of the five on three. It’s still hockey. Um, that’s true. You just got to make reads and everyone out there is a very smart, skilled player and got to trust your instincts and make reads and it’s not that complicated. Sometimes you make it look complicated, but it it’s not. Every five on three and every five on four. Five on threes especially generally have a set play. Here’s what we’re looking for. We’re look and sometimes you wait and you look for that. But when you start a power play and you only have 40 seconds or so on that five on three, I think what Thomas is trying to say is we know what we can do. Like you know what he wants to do? He wants to pull the trigger. Like he wants to pull the trigger. Step one, he wants to be on the ice for the five on three. Exactly. But yeah, but but that that’s a guy that pulls the trigger. And so and and my my philosophy with our guys is like we don’t want to wait to turn it back into a five on four. We have two extra guys. So let’s get pucks to the net. Let’s get bodies there so that when there is a rebound, we recover that. And a lot of times the goalie is going to make the first save. It’s just how good they are. But it’s the second and third opportunity where you actually cash in a lot of time. Let’s uh take a look at the Florida Panthers lineup for today because they get Brad Marshian back after he was not available on Tuesday and they the gap in the schedule. They had three days without a game Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So it actually worked out pretty well for the Panthers to allow Marshian to go back home to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The reason why he wasn’t in the lineup in their Tuesday home overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks was because one of his longtime friends from back in Canada lost his daughter to a after a long battle with cancer. His friend uh his J name is JP McCllum. He’s the head coach of the they’re called the March and Mill Company Hunters of the Nova Scotia U8 Hockey League. JP McCllum is the head coach. He lost his 10-year-old daughter. Um, and Brad has an outdoor apparel company called March and Milco and they sponsor the team. Well, Marshand went and back home and coached his U8 team for his friend JP. Missed an NHL game, but I mean, really two front Really cool of Marshian to do that. Really cool the Panthers to allow him to do that. Good timing. Get a little break in here. Get get a few days off. I’ve said that when you you’ve got older players, if you can find pockets in the schedule, ideally more in the middle after maybe the 40 game mark, but this was, you know, this was the right thing and he obviously wanted to do it. I think tonight he’s going to step on the ice and the ovation for him and and I think that’s going to that’s going to be another hurdle that Dallas is going to have to absolutely step over because they already love Marshan the way he is and to be able to have all the publicity around this thing and doing that kind of a taking taking the steps to to do that I think is just is great on his side. But I think that’s going to be a little boost for the for the Panthers tonight. Ryan, pop up that forward group again for the Panthers because look, this is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. They had a great start. They won their first three games of the year, but then they’ve gone on a bit of a slide. 25-1 in their last eight games, just five points, a 313 point percentage. And Luds, they are missing some substantial players from their lineup. Obviously, their captain, Alexander Barov, who picked up that awful knee injury in preseason in training camp. And then Matthew Kachchuck still out for a while. They also lost Dimmitri Kulakov for months. Thomas Nosk is out. Jonah Gajivich is out. Now, this is just like the Stars, a team that is missing a chunk of their team. Yeah. And but but I think what they have is what what Dallas is trying to get to from a foundation of playing the game in their own zone and in all three zones. They have that foundation. So, they believe that they can lean on that and then they can they won’t be able to create as many offensive chances obviously because of the people that are out of the lineup, but I think they feel better playing in their own zone especially. And that’s what that’s what we keep on hearing from Dallas. Well, we’re we’re kind of standing around and we’re thinking about what we’re defending and where we’re supposed to be and all this other kind of stuff. These guys have that advantage because they’ve been doing it for a couple and that’s you talk about moving up in the lineup. The Londell Loose Dinan and Marshian line was the phenomenal third line for the Panthers in the playoff run last year. Now they’ve been basically bumped to the second line because Sam Bennett who was higher up with Bararkov and Kachuk not in that necessarily that order. Now they just don’t have the same pieces. Let’s take a look at their defense and they have a pretty good now they’re missing Kulicov and they lost out on course Nate Schmidt was part of that group last year. He’s not there either but they brought in a veteran and Jeff Petri I don’t think that his best days are in front of him but still a smart player and obviously a first full season with Sashon. Yeah and Petri you know what when I watched Petri play the last year I he he just seemed disinterested. I don’t think he was happy with what was going on. But again, they’re top four, play the majority of the the Brangos only played four NHL game. So, you know, there there’s if you’re able to get a matchup, that’s what you would like. But again, they don’t have Dallas doesn’t have last change tonight, but they still have a great top four to Interesting with Dominic Sbrano because he’s a 2020 third round pick, first of overall pick of that round by Detroit. He was traded to Ottawa in 2023 as part of the deal that allowed the Red Wings to acquire Alex Debrink. And then this year, October 15th, you know, two weeks ago, he was claimed off waiverss by the Panthers from the Senators. He’s in his sixth pro season. He’s mostly been in the AHL. Although I did notice Luds, he played four games two years ago for the Allen Americans in the ECHL. So, couple confiscus today. Yeah. and and I think they want to see what they’ve got here. You know, again, it’s a great opportunity for him obviously to be able to step in this lineup, have some protection around you with the system and all that other kind of stuff. So, be nice to see him get an opportunity. And lastly, let’s take a look at the goalending matchup. We mentioned Casey De Smith for Dallas, Sergey Babroski for the Stars. And Luds, obviously, Babroski is a heck of a goalie. Uh, okay number so far. I think more reflective of the team in front of him so far this year, but his career against Dallas in 24 games. Baboski combined between Columbus and Florida 192 and two with a 922 save percentage and one shut out. He has been really really good against Yeah. And unfortunately all the players read those stats. They got that back in front of them, you know. No, they do. Yeah. They know what they’re going. All right. Last thing I have to say is do you think we’re going to see a better effort from the Stars today than we saw? I mean, effort is not the right word. Do you think they’re going to see a better game? because they’re trying hard. They just they didn’t play well against Tampa. You’re going to see a better game from the Stars today. Yeah. And what I’m hoping is that this little bit of talk like we got to create more chance and thing, it it doesn’t hurt your defensive game because again, you’re playing against a veteran team that obviously has had some success here in the last couple years. So, you don’t need to uh create any crack guys. So, I think they just got to keep on with the process and and and again, as much as you can play in the offensive zone, but you have to make sure pucks get into the offensive zone. This is a very structured team they’re playing against. They’ll turn pucks over through the neutral center. Really cool thing I noticed as we were going live with our pregame show. Didn’t see it before. Check this out. Now, you may not know this, but see Jake Cotton walking in. There’s Sam Steel behind him. They’re all wearing a t-shirt. Well, we just did this with Tyler Sean shirts for his thousands game in Tampa. But if you look closely, it says, “Congrats on 2000.” And that is Dallas Stars head athletic trainer Dave Zeiss on that shirt. So apparently, and we’ve known Zeicer has been around longer than I’ve been in Dallas, and I’ve been here, this is my 12th season covering whole hockey game work, and he’s a great guy, very talented at what he does. Uh, always really generous with asking medical questions and stuff, but really cool to a point. Really cool milestone though for Yeah. And what’s really nice that they acknowledge, you know, and the players know about it. Obviously, the staff knows about it. So, it’s it’s classy when they recognize kind of. All right, time to see if this last time they played it was in Finland and it didn’t go well. They lost two games. They got kind of humble. Can they measure up now? Well, they’ve got some injuries. Florida’s got some injuries. You know what? It was a year ago today that Maverick Cork scored his first NHL goal in Finland today. So, is Maverick Fork on the score sheet today? I I just brought it up. That’s just all I’m saying. Just putting it out there. Well, maybe we’ll have a reason to throw the mullet hat thanks to PNC Bank. Get yours November 4th and 6th. We will see you in the postgame show after Stars and Panthers. Thanks for watching. I believe that they are going to crush these guys tonight. [Applause] [Music]

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The Dallas Stars extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2) on Tuesday night, picking up a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tonight, they get a crack at the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who lifted the silver chalice in both 2024 and 2025. Oskar Bäck (upper body) will return to the lineup for Dallas, meaning the Stars will be able to return to a 12-forward, 6- defensemen lineup after being forced to dress 11F/7D for the last two games due to injuries up front. The Panthers are expected to get Brad Marchand back in the lineup, after he missed their Tuesday game vs. Anaheim (3-2 OTL) due to a personal leave back in his native Nova Scotia. On tonight’s DLLS Stars Pregame Show, we will discuss all the big storylines, take a look at the expected lineups, and we will hear from players and coaches. Expected starting goaltenders: Casey DeSmith (DAL) vs. Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA).

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