Montgomery is juggling some of his other forward lines. The top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov stays intact. Jason Spezza is expected to center Mattias Janmark and Valeri Nichushkin. Radek Faksa will center Jason Dickinson and Blake Comeau. Tyler Pitlick and Brett Ritchie are the expected scratches. Pitlick, who has scored one goal in his last eleven games and has three in 30 games, will be scratched for the second time this season.
"I liked the way Tyler played last game, but we are looking for more offense," Montgomery said. "He hasn't been that offensive lately and just making a change."
On defense, Gavin Bayreuther will come back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday in San Jose. Montgomery wanted to give Bayreuther, who had a rough game Wednesday in Anaheim, a chance to reset.
"It was good for me. I needed that," Bayreuther said. "When you don't have your best nights, you end up sitting in the stands. I am excited for tonight, have a new me and I am just going to play my game."
The defense pairs for tonight are expected to be Esa Lindell-Julius Honka, Miro Heiskanen-Roman Polak, Bayreuther-Taylor Fedun. Joel Hanley will be the scratch on defense.
The Stars (16-13-3) are closing out a four-game road trip tonight in Denver. They are 0-3-0 in the first three games and enter today three points out of a playoff spot. The Stars have played only four games within the Central Division so far this season, but starting tonight they'll see a lot more of their division foes, playing three of the next four and four of the next six against the Central.
"We're really aware of our Central Division games, but Calgary (Tuesday in Dallas) is going to be a tough game too," Montgomery said. "They are all important right now when we're fighting to get into the playoffs."
