Stastny Shore STL DAL

STARS (0-1-0) at BLUES (1-0-0)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-SW, NHL.TV

Goaltender Kari Lehtonen will start for Dallas, which lost 2-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights at home on Friday. Lehtonen allowed both goals after starter Ben Bishop was removed from the game with concussion-like symptoms with 16:02 remaining in the third period after taking a shot in the mask. Bishop skated Saturday morning, but Hitchcock said the plan was for Lehtonen to start the second half of the back-to-back and that Bishop, who cleared concussion protocol, will dress as his backup.
The Blues will play their home opener. They began their season by defeating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday.

Players to watch

Stars captain Jamie Benn's next assist will be the 300th of his NHL career. Benn has 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 30 games against St. Louis.
Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo scored twice against the Penguins, including the game-winner in overtime. It was the first time he scored two goals in a game since Feb. 12, 2012, against the San Jose Sharks.

They said it

"We've got to find a way to grow our game. We've got to get more players playing better. If we can do that, we'll be in good shape. We had some players that really played well but we need more players to play better and that's an important challenge for us." -- Hitchcock
"I don't think that we'll be sitting down and having coffee with each other. I'm still incredibly grateful and appreciative of my time with [Hitchcock]. I learned a lot from him and I really enjoyed working with him. He's going to want to beat us, and we're going to want to beat his team. We've got to make sure we're ready to go." -- Yeo, an assistant under Hitchcock, on facing his former boss

Stars projected lineup
Blues projected lineup
Status report

Cracknell, who played 39 games with St. Louis in 2012-14, will make his season debut Saturday replacing Smith, who was minus-1 on Friday.

Stat pack

Lehtonen is 13-6-3 with a 2.18 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and three shutouts in his career against St. Louis. … Five Blues (Pietrangelo, Schwartz, Schenn, Stastny and Sobotka) each had two points against the Penguins in the season opener.