DALLAS — The Dallas Stars shuffled the power play units at Friday’s morning skate as they prepared for a game with the Arizona Coyotes.
Esa Lindell took John Klingberg’s spot on the first power play, working with Patrick Eaves, Patrick Sharp, Jamie Benn, and Tyler Seguin.
Klingberg anchored the second unit with Dan Hamhuis from the blue line, while Jason Spezza, Devin Shore, and Brett Ritchie were the forwards.
“I think we’re gonna try and have two good units,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “Split that time up. Make the units provide more energy in a shorter period of time. Short term we’re going to give that a try.”
And what about Lindell on the first unit?
“Really I think he’s got one of the quickest wrist shots, the fact that a lot of times you’re under pressure, we’re just looking for a guy that can just move it and distribute it and shoot it real quick,” Ruff said. “I think he’s been one our better options and he’s a young guy we’d like to give a look at.”
Bye blues
The Stars are trying to reverse a league-wide trend of teams losing after their bye week.
In the NHL this season teams are 4-12-4 after the bye, and the Coyotes have a pair of wins against teams coming off the bye week.
The Stars are trying to combat that trend with a quick start and had a lengthy practice on Thursday. It also should be to the Stars advantage that Arizona played and lost to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Injury update
Adam Cracknell’s lower-body injury might not be as serious as it first appeared. Ruff said the forward is doing better and it might just be a couple weeks.
Johnny Oduya won’t play Friday, but he is an option for Sunday against the Boston Bruins. Ales Hemsky is still working his way back, but put in extra work after the morning skate to test his injured hip.
Stephen Johns is available to play after missing the past two games due to illness.
Coyotes projected lineup
Tobias Rieder — Martin Hanzal — Radim Vrbata
Brendan Perlini — Christian Dvorak — Shane Doan
Max Domi — Alexander Burmistrov — Ryan White
Jamie McGinn — Jordan Martinook — Josh Jooris
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Luke Schenn
Alex Goligoski — Anthony DeAngelo
Jakob Chychrun — Connor Murphy
Louis Domingue
Mike Smith
Scratched: Peter Holland, Kevin Connauton
Injured: Lawson Crouse (lower-body), Brad Richardson (fractured tibia)
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn — Cody Eakin — Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel — Tyler Seguin — Patrick Sharp
Curtis McKenzie — Radek Faksa — Brett Ritchie
Lauri Korpikoski — Devin Shore — Jason Spezza
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Jordie Benn
Patrik Nemeth — Jamie Oleksiak
Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Jiri Hudler, Stephen Johns
Injured: Mattias Janmark (knee), Ales Hemsky (hip), Adam Cracknell (lower-body), Johnny Oduya (ankle)
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