Stars expect another tussle with Oilers (Jan 06, 2018)

DALLAS -- The Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars have already met twice this season with each team winning on home ice. Stars coach Ken Hitchcock expects another all-out war Saturday afternoon when these former Pacific Division rivals square off at American Airlines Center.

"We know what tomorrow's going to be," Hitchcock said after practice Friday. "We've played them twice, we know it was very physical and it's going to be a hard game."

Saturday's game has added meaning for Dallas (23-16-3), who defeated New Jersey 4-3 at home on Thursday, running the Stars' home record to 15-5-1, because it will be Dallas' final contest before the bye week.

After Saturday, the Stars won't play again until Jan. 13 against Colorado.

"Yeah, it's going to be huge," Stars forward Brett Ritchie, who scored a power-play goal Thursday against the Devils, said. "I think we have a few games in hand on some teams. We're going into this break and some of those teams are still going to be playing, so I think when we come back from the break, it's imperative that we try and give ourselves a good cushion."

Hitchcock said Friday that Ben Bishop will start in goal again on Saturday, Bishop's 10th consecutive start.

"Ben's played awful well, so we're just going to run with it until it looks like he's tired or we need a break," Hitchcock said. "Because we had this big break coming up, it's going to give him a chance to take a rest too. We're going to need every point we can get our hands on, so as long as he keeps playing well and has great energy, stays healthy, then he's going to get the majority of the games if he plays at this level."

Hitchcock was happy with the performance of defenseman Marc Methot, who returned from a 26-game absence due to a knee injury, and center Martin Hanzal, who had missed the previous two games with a lower-body injury, against the Devils.

Hanzal had a scheduled day off Friday while Methot practiced with no issue, so both veterans should be players against Edmonton.

Forward Alexander Radulov did not practice Friday after hurting his hand while blocking a shot against the Devils, but Radulov is fine.

"He's good," Hitchcock said of Radulov. "We opted to keep him off the ice today so that he's 100 percent for tomorrow, but him, Hanzal and Methot will all play tomorrow."

Dallas forward Remi Elie, out the past two games with illness, will return to the lineup against the Oilers with Jason Dickinson, who was recently recalled from AHL Texas, being a healthy scratch on Saturday.

"He's good to go, so he's going to go in the lineup," Hitchcock said of Elie. "Right now, this is the heaviest lineup we could put forward (against Edmonton), so we're going to do it."

On Oct. 26, the Oilers edged the Stars 5-4 in Edmonton. But Dallas returned the favor Nov. 18 with a 6-3 victory at home.

And even though Edmonton currently sits below .500 at 18-20-3, Hitchcock isn't about to take the Oilers lightly.

"Not against us (have they struggled)," Hitchcock said. "They had us hard in Edmonton and then we got them back a little bit, but man, they were really good hockey games. I don't know what their problem is, but against us they've played awful well."

Edmonton defeated Anaheim 2-1 in a shootout at home on Thursday and the Oilers are 9-8-2 on the road.

But the big story, other than forward Patrick Maroon serving his second and final game of a suspension for a check to the head of Los Angeles' Drew Doughty earlier in the week on Saturday, is the Oilers' acquisition of goaltender Al Montoya from Montreal on Friday.

Edmonton sent a fourth-round pick in the 2018 draft to the Canadiens for Montoya, who hasn't played since early November due to a concussion.

After practice Friday in Edmonton, Oilers coach Todd McLellan said Montoya will meet the team in Dallas and that management will make a corresponding roster move from there, likely sending Laurent Brossoit to AHL Bakersfield.

The Oilers, who are 5-4-1 over their past 10 games, are also in the rather unique position of playing back-to-back early afternoon games.

Besides Saturday's game, Edmonton will finish the back-to-back Sunday afternoon at United Center against the Chicago Blackhawks.

But McLellan has been here before and doesn't consider preparing for afternoon tilts any more challenging than a game with a customary evening puck drop.

"Well, the second one doesn't worry me as much as the first one. A back-to-back, you kind of get that rhythm and your hockey clock is 24 hours apart from a game like you're playing normal back-to-backs, it's the first one," McLellan said.

"We would've normally not skated today (Friday), flown down and had a pregame skate (tomorrow), so we've already made one adjustment. There's other things we do to try and make sure our team is ready to go, but at the end of the day, it is what it is and the players have to show up and play. We can come up with gimmicks, but they have to come and play, be very professional about it and I believe our group will."