Denis Gurianov draws back in against Flames

Stars (3-4-2, 8 points) vs. Calgary Flames (6-1-2, 14 points)

At a time when the Stars are in a four-game winless patch (0-2-2) and in dire need of a regulation victory, they're facing maybe their toughest opponent this season.
Calgary is 6-1-2 and hasn't lost in regulation since the season opener against Edmonton. The Flames rank third in goals against (2.00), seventh in scoring (3.44) and fourth in goal differential at plus-13. They're first in shots on goal at 35.9 and seventh in fewest shots against (29.3), as well as fourth on the power play (26.7 percent).
Now, the Rangers and Blue Jackets have come on and started to play well, but they haven't been near the juggernaut the Flames have been under coaching veteran Darryl Sutter.
The Flames are clicking and even during a 3-2 OT loss to Nashville on Tuesday, Calgary had a 40-22 advantage in shots on goal. The Flames have been tenacious from the start of the game. Calgary has outshot teams 119-82 in first periods and outscored them 13-5.
Dallas has been starting slowly, getting outshot in first periods 85-71 and getting outscored 8-6.
"Their starts," Stars coach Rick Bowness said when asked what stands out with the Flames. "If you want to come in here and get some points, you better be ready to go. That's what impresses me. You better be ready to battle. If you come out of the gate a little slow, they're going to make you pay the price."

What's more, the Stars will see No. 1 goalie Jacob Markstrom and not a back-up goalie, as they did against Winnipeg and Vegas. Markstrom is 4-1-2 on the season and ranks third in the NHL in both goals against average (1.56) and save percentage (.947). In his career against the Stars, he's 4-2-1 with a 2.40 GAA and .925 save percentage.
"Darryl has got this team humming pretty good," Bowness said. "And they're getting great goaltending, which you need to have in this league to be successful."
Dallas will go with Anton Khudobin in net. Khudobin has played well against the Flames with a 3-2-0 career record, a 2.56 GAA and .913 save percentage, and also beat them in the 2020 playoffs in the Edmonton bubble.

What to watch

Denis Gurianov will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Tuesday.
While Bowness said Gurianov was hurting the team with mistakes, he added that it also could be good for the 24-year-old to watch from above and see the game at a different pace.
"Sometimes for a young player, the best thing to do is to sit up in the stands and watch," Bowness said. "You realize how much more time you have out there. Down on the ice, everything is so fast. You just don't think you have any time. But when you're sitting up here and watching, it's an easy game. 'I do have more time out there and I can do these things.'"
Bowness said he talks to Gurianov and that "he knows what I need him to work on."
Gurianov said he understands the changes he must make.
"It's hockey and bad things happen," Gurianov said. "I've got to work on myself and I'm doing it, trying hard. But sometimes, bad day or something. I'm just trying to stay positive."
Bowness said he'll play Gurianov back on the right wing on a line with Radek Faksa and Michael Raffl. Gurianov has bounced around and was playing right wing with Jamie Benn and Raffl at times, and left wing with Benn and Alexander Radulov.
The coach said he feels Faksa could be a good anchor to help set a good blueprint for Gurianov.
"Faksy is really responsible defensively, so he'll start there," Bowness said. "Faksy can look after him on the defensive side of things, we just have to get Denis skating like he can skate."

Lineup updates

With Gurianov back in, the lines tonight could look like this:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Benn-Seguin-Radulov
Raffl-Faksa-Gurianov
Kiviranta-Glendening-Comeau
Suter-Klingberg
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Hakanpaa
Khudobin
Tanner Kero, Joel Hanley and Andrej Sekera would be your healthy scratches.
One of the things the coaching staff experimented with last game was playing rookie Thomas Harley beside Miro Heiskanen on defense. Bowness said they liked what they saw from the pairing, but that they'd use it in doses when the game called for it.
"The second pairing is going to change based on the game situation," Bowness said. "Miro is going to play with Esa, he's going to play with Thomas, depending on matchups and where the faceoff is at. It won't be steadfast - Miro and Esa or Jani and Thomas - it won't be that at all."
Harley, 20, played 15:09 Tuesday in his regular season NHL debut. He had four shot attempts, two hits, two blocked shots and finished plus-1.
"I thought he was really good. I was really happy with Thomas' game, very confident with the puck," Bowness said. "He's a big, strong kid. He had a really solid game. For his first game with us, I really liked his game."
Hakanpaa also has been a nice addition. The free agent joined the Stars in the summer. He's averaging 14:47 per game and missed one game because he was in the COVID protocol.
"He's doing the job that we need him to do," Bowness said. "He's the third pairing D on that right side, he's physical, and taking care of around our net, and he's doing a really good job with the penalty kill. He's given us good minutes."

Numbers

2

Tyler Pitlick has two goals in four games against Dallas. The former Star should be fired up for tonight.

50

In 55 career games against the Flames, Joe Pavelski has 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists). Other Stars players who have fared well against Calgary are Benn (33 points in 34 games) and Tyler Seguin (22 points in 23 games).

17

In a stretch with the Flames from 1991-94, Stars goaltending coach Jeff Reese went 17-6-3.

He said it

"There's a lot of good chances out there. At the end of the day, you've got good goalies on the other side, but you've got to score. Whether it's more traffic, whether it's some tips, whether it's just putting that puck inside a post or making a shot. Sometimes, you've just got to make a shot to break this." -- Pavelski on improving on the team's dismal goal output.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.