DALLAS — Before the morning skate Jamie Benn was looking over game notes outside of the Dallas Stars locker room as members of the Winnipeg Jets walked by.
Dustin Byfuglien paused for a moment while passing the Stars’ captain.
“Couple minuses there,” Byfuglien said.
“Get ready for round two,” Benn replied.
The two have a bit of a history. Just four days ago this happened:
A HUGE heavyweight fight. Jamie Benn and Dustin Byfuglien drop the gloves. pic.twitter.com/y9E0CRgFXO
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) November 3, 2017
Will Byfuglien and Benn fight against tonight? It’s possible.
Either way this is a big game for the Stars against a Central Division rival that embarrassed them 5-2 last Thursday in Winnipeg.
Meat line
The Stars fourth line is going to feature Jamie Oleksiak, Martin Hanzal, and Gemel Smith.
Thanks to Oleksiak (6-foot-7, 255 pounds) and Hanzal (6-foot-6, 230 pounds), that line weighs close to 700 total pounds and totals just under 19 feet in height.
“I’m the muscle,” Smith said. “Got to protect the boys.”
On a serious note, this is a big game for Oleksiak and Hanzal.
Oleksiak, a defenseman, is playing forward for the first time in his NHL career. Hanzal is making his return to the lineup and was essentially rushed back in after injuries to Radek Faksa and Tyler Pitlick this past weekend.
“I’m just not going to overcomplicate it, you know what I mean? Just got to keep it simple and I’ve got two good (linemates) here,” Oleksiak said. “Just make sure we talk and play smart defensively and do our job out there and play a smart simple game.”
Jets projected lineup
Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Blake Wheeler
Nikolaj Ehlers — Bryan Little — Patrik Laine
Shawn Matthias — Adam Lowry — Andrew Copp
Brendan Lemieux — Matt Hendricks — Brandon Tanev
Josh Morrissey — Jacob Trouba
Toby Enstrom — Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov — Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Steve Mason
Scratches: Joel Armia, Ben Chiarot, Marko Dano
Injured: Mathieu Perreault (lower body)
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel — Jason Spezza — Remi Elie
Jason Dickinson — Mattias Janmark — Devin Shore
Jamie Oleksiak — Martin Hanzal — Gemel Smith
Marc Methot — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Esa Lindell — Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: None
Injured: Tyler Pitlick (upper-body), Radek Faksa (lower-body), Brett Ritchie (upper body)
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