NOTES: Stars have tough defensive decision to make after win vs Coyotes

DALLAS — A difficult defensive dilemma may have gotten more confusing for Dallas Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock in a 3-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.

Dan Hamhuis, who had struggled most of the season, had his best game with a goal and an assist to go along with overall well-rounded play. His partner, Stephen Johns, was excelent against according to Hitchcock, while the top-pairing of Marc Methot and John Klingberg have started to find much-needed chemistry.

Julius Honka also had a strong game and early set up Jason Spezza for a breakaway goal, while Esa Lindell has been one of Hitchcock’s favorite defenders through the first five games.

So what happens when Jamie Oleksiak re-enters the lineup on Thursday against the Coyotes?

We now know that Hamhuis and Johns won’t be the scratches, Hitchcock said he’s not considering them for a night off after Tuesday’s win. It’s also a lock that Methot and Klingberg will stay together, so either Honka or Lindell will likely be scratched on Thursday.

Postgame thoughts

Passing tests

In a 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche the Stars weren’t ready for Ben Bishop’s stretch passes that could have set up a couple breakaways.

On Tuesday the Stars looked ready for those plays and it kept the Coyotes on edge.

“That’s just going to get better over time,” Bishop said. “Still really early in the season. I haven’t played with these guys that much, so it will get better as time goes on. Just kind of one of those things you’ve got to feel it out for the time being.”

The long pass from the goalie is particularly dangerous in the second period when the other team has the long change. In each of the past two games there were instances where Bishop’s passes prevented the Avalanche and Coyotes from making a line change.

Slashing?

In the first period Alexander Radulov and Oliver Ekman-Larsson got into a post-whistle shoving match, which ended with the Coyotes captain taking a whack with his stick at Radulov.

Oddly there was no call on the play. The NHL has been cracking down on slashing and small taps on the gloves are called, but a semi-two-handed swing after the whistle was ignored.

Adin Hill

Good for Coyotes goalie Adin Hill, who had his family in attendance and played well in his NHL debut.

“Having my family, especially my little brother and my mom and my sister with them and my dad of course, it’s really big for my little brother too,” Hill said. “He’s just nine-years-old and still playing hockey. It was nice for them to be able to get out here to Dallas to watch a game for sure.”

Hill has good size at 6-foot-6 and wasn’t overpowered by the moment. He made a couple big saves to keep his team in the game, including a breakaway save on Jason Spezza in the second period.

The 21-year-old impressed the goalie on the other end of the ice.

“I thought he was pretty composed,” Bishop said. “I thought he made some big saves and I think we could have done a better job of putting some more pressure on him, but we still found a way. Definitely good first game for him, pretty impressive.”