With Khudobin in COVID protocol, Stars turn to rookie against Hurricanes

Stars (12-12-10, 34 points) vs. Hurricanes (24-8-3, 51 points)

Another curveball has been thrown at the Stars coaching staff Saturday, as expected starter Anton Khudobin has been placed in the NHL's COVID protocol after a positive test.
That means Jake Oettinger will get the start against Carolina, and it definitely opens up some concerns for Sunday's game against the Hurricanes.
"It was going to be Dobby, but he's now in the league protocol, and that's why we do everything with a pencil," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "Jake will be in."
Khudobin had COVID-19 in the off-season in Russia and said at the time it was a difficulty experience.
"It's not easy. I'll tell you right now, it's not easy," Khudobin said in January before training camp. "First of all, it's hard to breathe. I didn't have it really bad; like, they didn't have to put me on an oxygen tank. I was breathing normal. But if you're going upstairs to the second or third floor, you're going to catch your breath. You're going to be, like, (panting sound). It's hard. When I started skating, it wasn't easy for a week. But other than that, nothing really crazy."

Bowness said the team is hoping this is a false positive test and that Khudobin will be able to return quickly. He said no other Stars players has tested positive.
Oettinger is 5-3-6 on the season with a 2.34 GAA and .909 save percentage. In his last performance March 28, he allowed three goals on 22 shots in a 4-1 loss to Florida. He is 0-0-1 against Carolina with a 1.95 GAA and .903 save percentage.
Carolina is 11-1-3 at home and is battling for first place in the Division. Carolina is 4-0-0 against Dallas this season, while the Stars are 0-2-2. Bowness said the Stars need to do a good job of moving the puck out of their own end and handling the Hurricane forecheck.
"They're a good team, that's why they are battling for first place," Bowness said. "We've actually played very well against them, other than that first game in here. The other three games have been very well played, hard fought. They play a lot like Nashville. They're a forechecking team, a heavy team and they're going to come at us.
"In the last game against Nashville, we did a really good job of breaking the puck out. If we can continue with that, we'll take a little pressure off of our defense and a little pressure off of Jake and spend a little more time in the (offensive) zone."

Stars look for back-to-back wins for first time since January

The Stars have not won back-to-back games since January. They have the opportunity to accomplish that tonight. Dallas is coming of a 4-1 win in Nashville Thursday in a game Bowness called one of the team's best. Can they duplicate that today against a very good Carolina team? And is it weighing on their minds?
"No, we're not worried about that," Bowness said. "Listen, we can't go into this game thinking, `Wow, we haven't won two games since January,' so that can't be our mindset at all. Our mindset has to be: Pick up where we left off on Thursday and things will take care of themselves. If we play the way we did Thursday, Dallas Stars hockey for 60 minutes, then I like our chances."
Technically speaking, the Stars have been very good in a lot of the games they have lost in overtime or shootout, so they are hoping that just a few things can change a game. They lost 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday and won 4-1 on Thursday with very similar underlying analytics.

"We got some puck luck around the net, and I've been saying all year `It's that timely goal, it's that timely save … that's how close it is,'" Bowness said after the win. "At some point in every game, you need that goal to give you a boost and you need that save to give you a boost, and we got both tonight. That's probably one of the better games we played all year. The emotion was good, the passion was good."
Now, they need to duplicate that and start putting together a winning streak.
"We're all aware of it," Bowness said of the lack of consecutive wins. "Do we dwell on it? No. We're going to move on from it and focus on what we have to do to win the game tonight."

Radulov, Seguin, Bishop skating in Frisco

Alexander Radulov (lower body), Tyler Seguin (hip) and Ben Bishop (knee) are skating at Comerica Center in Frisco, but not yet available. Bowness said he believes Joel Kiviranta still is in a walking boot.

By the numbers

29.6

Carolina is first in the NHL in power-play success rate at 29.6 percent. Dallas ranks 22nd on the penalty kill at 76.7 percent.

17

The Stars rank third in the NHL in goals that have been scored via tip with 17. They are fourth in tipped shots with 71.

54.2

Carolina ranks second in the NHL in faceoff winning percentage at 54.2 percent. Dallas ranks 12th at 50.7 percent.

He said it

"You need the points. We're not going to remember this game once we get home and focus on the next one. Our guys bounce back pretty well. It's two points, and we'll move on." -- Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour after his team's dramatic 4-3 win in Chicago Thursday where it scored the winning goal with 28.9 seconds left in the third period
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, and listen to his podcast.