Devils at Stars preview
New Jersey seeks first win in six games; Bowness debuts as Dallas coach
by Josh Clark / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
DEVILS (9-15-5) at STARS (17-11-3)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, MSG+, NHL.TV
The Game
Rick Bowness will coach his first game for the Dallas Stars, facing the New Jersey Devils at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.
Bowness replaces Jim Montgomery, who was fired Tuesday. Stars general manager Jim Nill said that there was a "material act of unprofessionalism" discovered over the past two days that led to the firing on Tuesday morning. Montgomery had a 60-43-10 record with Dallas.
The Stars have won their past two games after an 0-3-1 stretch. Dallas is 16-4-2 in its past 22 games after a 1-7-1 start to the season. They won 3-1 against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
The Devils are 0-4-1 in their past five games and have been outscored 22-9 over the span. New Jersey lost 6-4 to the Nashville Predators on Saturday to begin a four-game road trip. They are 0-2-1 since Alain Nasreddine was named coach after John Hynes was fired.
Players to watch
Devils forward Taylor Hall has four points (two goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak.
Stars goalie Ben Bishop is 8-1-1 with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage in his past 11 starts.
They said it
"I can't speak for them. It was a shock for us too, so we haven't really had a chance to think about it. It has nothing to do with us, so we're just focusing on our team and letting them deal with that issue." -- Devils coach Alain Nasreddine on Dallas firing coach Jim Montgomery
"It's confusion and shock. It's definitely sad. I really liked Monty. He's a great coach. I was saying all along that I was looking forward to this being the last coach of my Stars career. Like I said, stuff happens that's not in my control or the guys' control. We trust our management and our GM Jim Nill. Whatever happened, that was a decision made by them. We support them and it's time to get to work tonight." -- Stars forward Tyler Seguin on Montgomery being fired
Devils projected lineup
Taylor Hall -- Jack Hughes -- Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman -- Travis Zajac -- Nikita Gusev
Jesper Boqvist -- Pavel Zacha -- Jesper Bratt
Miles Wood -- Kevin Rooney -- Wayne Simmonds
Andy Greene -- P.K. Subban
Damon Severson -- Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher -- Mirco Mueller
Mackenzie Blackwood
Louis Domingue
Scratched: John Hayden, Colton White, Michael McLeod
Injured: Nico Hischier (illness), Connor Carrick (finger), Matt Tennyson (upper body)
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn -- Mattias Janmark -- Tyler Seguin
Joe Pavelski -- Roope Hintz -- Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Denis Gurianov -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera -- Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Justin Dowling, Taylor Fedun
Injured: Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)
Status report
Hischier was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 5. … McLeod was recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.
Stat pack
Coleman, a Plano, Texas native, has three goals in five games against the Stars. … Heiskanen has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … Bishop has won eight consecutive games against the Devils.