DALLAS — When Ben Bishop is introduced at American Airlines Center before home games he’s introduced as a native of Denver, Colorado.
But that’s only half true.
Bishop was born in Denver, but only spent eight months of his life as a resident of Colorado.
A more accurate home town would be St. Louis. The town where Bishop played his youth hockey, the NHL team that drafted him, and where he still lives in the off-season.
“That’s home for me,” Bishop said on Friday morning. “I went home there for Christmas, that’s the place I call home.”
And Bishop will play his first game of the season against the Blues. Kari Lehtonen started the first two games in St. Louis, one because of an injury to Bishop, and the Stars lost both meetings.
So for Bishop this game means a bit more. While playing against the Blues doesn’t hold the same gravity as it did earlier in his career, it’s always special playing against his hometown team and players he knows rather well.
The Central Division rivalry and his past friendship with Blues goalie Jake Allen adds a little bit more for Bishop.
“They’ve been a good team for a long time, anytime you get to play against the best teams, and a great goalie in Jake (Allen),” Bishop said. “It’s fun you want to get these competitive juices going and it’s a good test for us and I enjoy playing against the best teams.”
Hanzal questionable
Martin Hanzal may or may not play tonight.
Hanzal didn’t practice on Thursday and didn’t take part in the morning skate.
“We’ll see how he feels later today,” Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.
Hanzal has missed 11 games with three different injuries this season. He recently returned from a hamstring injury on Dec. 11, while he’s also had hand and lower-body injuries.
If Hanzal can’t play, Gemel Smith would re-enter the lineup.
Blues projected lineup
Alexander Steen — Paul Stastny — Tage Thompson
Ivan Barbashev — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko
Vladimir Sobotka — Patrik Berglund — Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall — Kyle Brodziak — Chris Thorburn
Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson — Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn — Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched: Jordan Schmaltz, Oskar Sundqvist, Magnus Paajarvi
Injured: Jaden Schwartz (ankle), Jay Bouwmeester (undisclosed), Sammy Blais (lower body), Zach Sanford (shoulder)
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Devin Shore
Mattias Janmark — Gemel Smith — Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie — Jason Spezza — Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns — Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: none
Injured: Marc Methot (knee), Martin Hanzal (undisclosed)
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