Stars Daily October 6: Expansion teams and opening night

It’s going to be a historical night at American Airlines Center.

While the Dallas Stars are opening their 25th season in Texas, the Vegas Golden Knights will start checking off a list of firsts, starting with their first game.

At some point tonight Vegas will have it’s first penalty, it’s first goal (perhaps), and first win or loss.

Historically expansion teams don’t have much luck opening night. The Tampa Bay Lightning were the last expansion team to win their first game back in 1992, while in NHL history expansion teams have a 6-16-3 record in their opening game. Expansion teams are also 2-8-2 when starting on the road.

So how did the Stars do when they were the expansion Minnesota North Stars in 1967?

The North Stars tied the the St. Louis Blues 2-2 on Oct. 11, 1967. Bill Masterton scored the first goal in franchise history and Minnesota would eventually finish with a 27-32-15 record.

Housekeeping notes

– It’s a busy day for the site. Around 9 a.m. the mailbag will publish, it’s loaded and covers everything from AHL call-ups to defensive projections.

– My Texas Stars season preview will post here around 4 p.m. The AHL affiliate opens the season tonight as well against the Chicago Wolves at H-E-B Center.

Catchup links

Julius Honka is starting the season as a practice player. How does he feel about that?

There is going to be a Winnipeg Jets jersey at the game tonight. If you see that jersey you should thank the person carrying it.

Today’s schedule

The Stars have their first morning skate of the season at 10:30, it is not open to the public. The first game starts at 7:30 p.m. If you can, get to the rink early since the team will be celebrating the 25th season in Texas with a victory green carpet walk outside AAC.