Bruins at Stars preview

BRUINS (0-0-0) at STARS (0-0-0)
8:30 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-SW, NESN, NHL.TV

The forward, who signed a three-year contract with the Stars on July 1, is expected to play on the top line alongside Jamie Benn and center Tyler Seguin. Pavelski played the first 13 seasons of his NHL career with the San Jose Sharks and had 64 points (38 goals, 26 assists) in 75 games with the Sharks last season.
David Krejci will be a game-time decision for the Bruins because of a lower-body injury, but the center took part in the morning skate.
Goalie Tuukka Rask, who will start, is 7-2-2 with a 2.04 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in 11 games against Dallas.
It will be the Bruins' first game since a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 12.

Players to watch

Bruins forward Brad Marchand led Boston with an NHL career-high 100 points (36 goals, 64 assists) last season. He has scored at least 34 goals in each of the past four seasons.
Stars goalie Ben Bishop, who will start, led the NHL with a .934 save percentage last season and was second with a 1.98 goals-against average, behind Blues goalie Jordan Binnington (1.89).

They said it

"I think our guys are excited and ready to play. A lot of our core guys did not play a lot of exhibition, so they want to play some meaningful hockey. I don't think it will be nerves, but more so the energy level and to make sure they use it the right way." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"There's no better way to start, really. Our first two are against last year's top two teams. It's going to be some good competition and we're hoping to get off to a good start." -- Stars captain Jamie Benn on opening the season against Boston and St. Louis

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Karson Kuhlman
Danton Heinen -- Charlie Coyle -- David Backes
Sean Kuraly -- Par Lindholm -- Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk -- Connor Clifton
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched: Brett Ritchie, Steven Kampfer
Injured: Joakim Nordstrom (undisclosed)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Joe Pavelski
Jason Dickinson -- Roope Hintz -- Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark -- Justin Dowling -- Denis Gurianov
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Andrej Sekera
Jamie Oleksiak -- Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Taylor Fedun
Injured: Corey Perry (foot), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)

Status report

Perry remains sidelined and will be re-evaluated next week.

Stat pack

Boston opens the season with a four-game road trip. … Boston is 5-0-1 in its past six games at Dallas; the Bruins' last regulation road loss to the Stars was on Dec. 31, 2011.