Carrick set to return as Stars take on Canadiens

Defenseman Connor Carrick will return to the lineup tonight when the Dallas Stars take on the Montreal Canadiens at American Airlines Center in the final game of 2018.
Carrick has been out since suffering a fractured foot in the Oct. 28 game at Detroit and has missed the last 29 games. The Stars activated Carrick from injured reserve prior to Saturday's game against Detroit, but he didn't play so that he could get a couple more days to get into game shape.
"(My conditioning) feels good," Carrick said. "The test is always the game, it is a different animal. There will be a lot of people there tonight that aren't there when you are practicing. I feel very ready, and frankly, the guys in this group deserve an honest effort."

Carrick, whom the Stars acquired from Toronto just before the season started, has tallied four points (one goal, three assists) in nine games.
He will play on the third defense pair with Julius Honka. Both Carrick and Honka are right-handed shots, and Honka will play on the left side.
"Honka's pucks skills are really good, so he can handle pucks on his backhand really well," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said.

Defenseman Taylor Fedun is out tonight due to illness.
As for the forwards, Valeri Nichushkin is back in tonight after being a healthy scratch Saturday, and Brett Ritchie will be the healthy scratch tonight. Tyler Seguin will center the top line with Jamie Benn and Denis Gurianov on the wings. Roope Hintz will center Mattias Janmark and Alexander Radulov.
That trio, which was put together during Saturday's 5-1 win over Detroit, impressed Montgomery. The line of Blake Comeau, Radek Faksa, and Tyler Pitlick, which tallied twice Saturday stays intact.
The other line will have Jason Spezza centering Devin Shore and Nichushkin.
Ben Bishop, who stopped 33 of 34 shots on Saturday, gets the start in goal.
Tonight is game two of a four-game homestand for the Stars who are looking for their third straight win. Coming into Monday's game, Dallas is 20-16-3 and holds the second-wild card spot in the Western Conference and is two points out of third place in the Central Division.

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Opposition watch: Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens (20-14-5) are coming off a wild 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, which ran its points streak to 14 games (13-0-1). Montreal had 2-0, 3-2, and 5-4 leads in the game before the Lightning scored midway through the third to tie the game 5-5 and then Adam Erne scored the game-winner with 1:02 left in regulation.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Canadiens who hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Antti Niemi is the expected starter in goal tonight for Montreal.

Stat pack

Tonight's game

Who: Montreal Canadiens at Dallas Stars
Where:American Airlines Center
When: 7:30 p.m.
TV:Fox Sports Southwest Plus
Radio: The Ticket 1310 AM/96.7 FM

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Denis Gurianov
Mattias Janmark - Roope Hintz - Alexander Radulov
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Devin Shore - Jason Spezza - Valeri Nichushkin
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Julius Honka - Connor Carrick
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Brett Ritchie
Injured:Taylor Fedun (illness), Martin Hanzal (back), Jason Dickinson (back), Marc Methot (knee), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Canadiens projected lineup

Paul Byron - Max Domi - Jonathan Drouin
Tomas Tatar - Phillip Danault - Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Andrew Shaw
Kenny Agostino - Michael Chaput - Nicolas Deslauriers
Victor Mete - Shea Weber
Mike Reilly - Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak - Jordie Benn
Antti Niemi
Michael McNiven
Scratched:Matthew Peca, Charles Hudon, Karl Alzner
Injured:Carey Price (lower body), David Schlemko (upper body), Joel Armia (knee)
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.