"We need him to raise his level of game," Montgomery said of Oleksiak. "The opportunity to watch will recharge his batteries, have a reset, but also instill a little more urgency in his game because when he plays with urgency he is so impactful and when he doesn't it goes the other way."
Anton Khudobin will get the start in goal tonight.
The Stars (31-27-5) come into tonight's game one point out of a playoff spot. They fell into ninth place in the Western Conference last night after Colorado knocked off Vancouver in a shootout. It's the first time the Stars have been out of a playoff spot since the Christmas break.
Montgomery and his staff didn't bring up the standings initially this morning, focusing instead on the Kings and the Stars' play. Then they decided it needed to be discussed.
"But after a listless morning skate, I let (assistant coach Rick Bowness) address the team," Montgomery said.
"We directly talked about where we are and if people didn't realize it and realize the desperation we need to play with, because we didn't come here this morning with the proper attitude and work ethic to get us better for tonight."
