Bishop day-to-day for Stars, won't face Blues on Thursday

The Dallas Stars will be without goaltender Ben Bishop when they play at St. Louis on Thursday night. Bishop, who did not practice Wednesday, is out with a sore back.

"I think it's day-to-day, that's what we were told," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said of Bishop's status. "We're assuming he will be fine for the weekend, but he's not on the trip."
Bishop started Tuesday night's 5-2 loss to Nashville at American Airlines Center but was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 15 shots.

With Bishop not traveling to St. Louis, Kari Lehtonen will get the start in goal against the Blues. Lehtonen stopped 15 of 17 shots after taking over for Bishop on Tuesday. Lehtonen won his last start, stopping 25 of 27 shots in the 7-2 win over Colorado on Sunday.
The Stars called up Mike McKenna from the Texas Stars of the AHL on Thursday morning to back up Lehtonen in St. Louis.
Antoine Roussel, who has missed the last three games due to illness, practiced Wednesday. Hitchcock said Roussel was feeling fine but said they'll wait and see how he feels Thursday. The Stars thought Roussel was ready to play Tuesday, but then Roussel didn't feel well after the pregame skate and didn't dress for the game.

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Looking to bounce back against the Blues

Tuesday's game against Nashville was an opportunity for the Stars to see how they stacked up against one of the top teams in the league in the Predators, but they came up short in the 5-2 loss. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Stars, and it was just their second loss in the past nine games. They'll face another test in St. Louis.
"The best part is that when you lose a game, or things don't go your way, you get a chance to get right back at it," said Stars captain Jamie Benn. "And when you're winning, you have a chance to continue the success that you've had, so we're looking forward to another good test [Thursday].
"St. Louis is a great team, and it's going to be tough to play in their building. They're pretty good at home, so we'll have our hands full."

Notes

Practice Lineup

Here is how the Stars lined up in practice on Wednesday.
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Remi Elie - Mattias Janmark - Devin Shore
Antoine Roussel/Gemel Smith - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Curtis McKenzie - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak - Stephen Johns/Julius Honka
Kari Lehtonen
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @StarsInsideEdge.