Khudobin in goal as Stars face Hitchcock's Oilers

The Dallas Stars will be playing against a familiar face when they take on the Edmonton Oilers tonight at Rogers Place.
Former Stars coach Ken Hitchcock will be behind the bench tonight for the Oilers. Hitchcock, who was hired last week after Todd McClellan was fired, will be coaching his first game for the Oilers in Edmonton.
"He's a good coach. He demands a lot out of his players and his leaders," Stars captain Jamie Benn said of Hitchcock.
"Hopefully, we can spoil his party tonight."

The Stars, who are coming off a 3-2 loss at Colorado on Saturday that opened a four-game road trip, are making only one lineup change for tonight. Coach Jim Montgomery is putting Joel Hanley back in on defense and scratching Julius Honka. Hanley will be paired with Taylor Fedun on the third pair. The other pairs will be Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen and Gavin Bayreuther-Roman Polak.

Montgomery will roll with the same forward lines as last game. Brett Ritchie and Gemel Smith are the expected scratches up front.
Anton Khudobin will get the start in goal in tonight's game.
The Stars are tweaking their units for the power play, which is 1-for-22 over the past seven games and has scored just five times over the last 19 games. Devin Shore is moving up to the top unit with Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and Heiskanen. Jason Spezza will slide onto the second unit with Roope Hintz, Tyler Pitlick, Lindell, and Bayreuther.
"We wanted Spezza on the second unit because he's a real half-wall guy and he makes the second unit a little more threatening than it's been," Montgomery said. "And we wanted Shore's work ethic, and he talks a lot on the ice, and we felt there needed to be a new energy on the first unit."
The Stars (12-10-2) have lost three straight on the road and scored just four goals in those three games. They come into tonight's game in the second wild-card spot in the West, four points ahead of the Oilers, who are 12th in the conference.

Opposition watch: Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers (10-11-2) lost 5-2 at Los Angeles on Sunday to fall to 1-1-1 under Hitchcock. Former Stars forward Alex Chiasson scored both Edmonton goals Sunday, giving him 10 on 24 shots this season. Chiasson skated on the top line at this morning's skate with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Mikko Koskinen is expected to get the start in goal tonight for the Oilers. He is 5-2-1 with a 2.57 goals against average and .914 save percentage.
Since starting the season 8-4-1, the Oilers are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games.

Stat pack

Tonight's game

Who: Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers
Where:Rogers Place
When: 8:00 p.m.
TV:Fox Sports Southwest
Radio: The Ticket 1310-AM/96.7-FM

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Roope Hintz - Jason Spezza - Devin Shore
Valeri Nichushkin - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell - Miro Heiskanen
Gavin Bayreuther - Roman Polak
Joel Hanley - Taylor Fedun
Anton Khudobin
Landon Bow
Scratched:Gemel Smith, Brett Ritchie, Julius Honka
Injured: Ben Bishop (lower body), John Klingberg (hand), Marc Methot (lower body), Connor Carrick (foot), Martin Hanzal (back), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Oilers projected lineup

Leon Draisaitl - Connor McDavid - Alex Chiasson
Drake Caggiula - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jesse Puljujarvi
Milan Lucic - Kyle Brodziak - Zack Kassian
Jujhar Khaira - Ryan Spooner - Patrick Russell
Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse - Kris Russell
Kevin Gravel - Chris Wideman
Mikko Koskinen
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Ty Rattie, Jason Garrison, Matt Benning
Injured: Tobias Rieder (upper body)
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.