FRISCO, Texas — It looks like Curtis McKenzie is finally going to make his NHL season debut.
McKenzie had been called up twice before, and even took warmups before one game, but has yet to step into the lineup.
That should change on Saturday as the Dallas Stars complete a home-and-home swing against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Antoine Roussel is out with the flu, Martin Hanzal has a hamstring injury, and McKenzie was taking line rushes at morning skate on the fourth line with Gemel Smith and Brett Ritchie.
“I’m pretty confident where my game is right now,” McKenzie said. “I’ve been playing well down there, hopefully I can just bring that tonight and keep it rolling.”
McKenzie has been dominant in the AHL this season with 19 points (10 goals, 9 assists) in 19 games and had a hat trick in his last AHL game against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Curtis McKenzie completes a hat trick for the Texas Stars pic.twitter.com/au8w2WvIlz
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) November 30, 2017
While McKenzie was disappointed that he didn’t make the NHL roster on opening night, he has embraced a leadership role and been one of the better offensive players in the AHL.
“I kept the mindset that I’m an NHL player and need to play that way,” McKenzie said. “Just playing to the level that I can and just trying to get more shots and get back to the net more. Last year I didn’t have as many goals or as many opportunity in that regard so it’s something I’ve been able to bring into my game more.”
Home-and-home
Several players referred to this home-and-home set against the Blackhawks as a “mini-playoff series.”
“I like these,” Jason Spezza said. “We played a bit more of them out east, but I think it sets up a nice playoff feel and you have a nice opportunity to make a big push in your division.”
Tyler Seguin had similar thoughts.
“It doesn’t change much, but you always like playing against Chicago,” Seguin said. “It’s like a playoff back-to-back. We won the first one, now we get a change to get a bigger win tonight.”
Bishop in goal
Ben Bishop will make his sixth straight start and appear in his eight straight contest for Dallas. He’s been very good lately and has won his last three games, only allowing seven goals, and posting a shutout during that span.
Chicago will be without starting goalie Corey Crawford, who was placed on injured reserve with a nagging lower-body injury on Friday.
Anton Forsberg will make his eighth appearance of the season for Chicago and has a 1-2-2 record, 3.67 goals against average, and .904 save percentage this season.
“It’s a great opportunity for (Forsberg) to prove that he can play and play consecutive games,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It’s a good situation to be in and every goalie wants his chance and he has played well for us. It’d be nice to get some wins behind him as well.”
Crawford’s injury might have had an impact when the Stars beat the Blackhawks 4-3 on Thursday in overtime. The goalie didn’t look to out of sorts, but there were moments where he looked slow and struggled with his lateral movement.
Blackhawks projected lineup
Brandon Saad — Jonathan Toews — Richard Panik
Nick Schmaltz — Artem Anisimov — Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp — Ryan Hartman — Alex DeBrincat
Lance Bouma — Tommy Wingels — John Hayden
Duncan Keith — Cody Franson
Connor Murphy — Brent Seabrook
Gustav Forsling — Jan Rutta
Anton Forsberg
J.F. Berube
Scratched: Michal Kempny, Tanner Kero, Jordan Oesterle
Injured: Michal Rozsival (concussion), Corey Crawford (lower-body)
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark — Jason Spezza — Devin Shore
Remi Elie — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick
Curtis McKenzie — Gemel Smith — Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak — Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Julius Honka
Injured: Marc Methot (knee), Martin Hanzal (hamstring), Antoine Roussel (illness)
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