Injured Benn to miss Stars' game at Golden Knights

Captain Jamie Benn is out tonight with an upper-body injury as the Dallas Stars continue their road trip with a tilt against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena (9 p.m. CT; FS-SW; KTCK).
Benn suffered the injury in Saturday's game against Carolina in Dallas, tried to play through it Sunday in Chicago but left the game early in the first period. Stars coach Jim Montgomery said he expects Benn to return Thursday at Los Angeles.
The Stars also will be without forward Mats Zuccarello, who underwent surgery for a broken arm Tuesday morning. Zuccarello, acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Saturday, was injured in his Stars debut while blocking a shot Sunday in Chicago.

"Very successful surgery, that part I know," Montgomery said. "But I am going to let the professionals speak about it; I just know that it was successful."
With Zuccarello and Benn both out, Valeri Nichushkin and Denis Gurianov will draw into the lineup tonight. Nichushkin was a scratch Sunday, and Gurianov was recalled from the Texas Stars of the AHL on Monday afternoon.
Tyler Seguin will center Roope Hintz and Alexander Radulov tonight, and Radek Faksa will have Andrew Cogliano and Blake Comeau on his wings. Gurianov will line up with Jason Spezza and Mattias Janmark and Nichushkin will skate with Jason Dickinson and Brett Ritchie.
There will be no changes on defense with the pairs the same as Sunday: Esa Lindell-John Klingberg; Miro Heiskanen-Roman Polak; Jamie Oleksiak-Ben Lovejoy. Taylor Fedun and Julius Honka are the expected scratches.

Ben Bishop gets the start in goal tonight. He was involved in a collision with Faksa during this morning's skate, but shook it off.
"It was a pretty significant collision, but he got up with a smile on his face. He's good to go," Montgomery said. "Bish came off the ice and said he was going. That's the attitude we want."
The Stars will be looking to win consecutive games on the road for the first time since late December when they take on the Golden Knights tonight. The Stars, who are coming off a 4-3 victory in Chicago on Sunday, haven't won two straight on the road since they won at Minnesota Dec. 22 and at Nashville Dec. 27.
They'll face a revved-up Vegas team in what should be a revved-up building as forward Mark Stone makes his Golden Knights debut after being acquired from Ottawa at Monday's trade deadline.
The Stars have struggled with starts to games at times this season, and they'll need to be sharp early tonight.
"That's the key. They have Stone coming in, they're going to be fired up, it's always a rocking place, and we've got to be on our toes," Montgomery said. "It's something we haven't done a great deal of this year."
The Stars (31-26-5, 67 points) come into tonight's game in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of both Minnesota, which is in the second wild-card spot, and Colorado, which is in ninth place in the West with a game in hand on both teams.

Opposition Watch: Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights (32-26-5, 69 points) made one of the biggest splashes at the NHL trade deadline Monday, acquiring Mark Stone from Ottawa and then immediately signing him to an eight-year contract extension valued at $9.5 million per season. Stone did not take part in this morning's optional skate, but he is expected to play tonight on a line with Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny.
Marc-Andre Fleury will get the start in goal for Vegas.
The Golden Knights, who are in third place in the Pacific Division, have been struggling lately. They've dropped three straight games, are 1-5-1 in their last seven, and 5-11-1 over the last 17.

Fast facts

Tonight's game

Who:Dallas Stars at Vegas Golden Knights
Where: T-Mobile Arena
When: 9 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports Southwest
Radio: The Ticket 1310-AM/96.7-FM

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Stars projected lineup

Roope Hintz - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Denis Gurianov
Valeri Nichushkin - Jason Dickinson - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Jamie Oleksiak - Ben Lovejoy
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Julius Honka, Taylor Fedun
Injured:Jamie Benn (upper body), Matts Zuccarello (broken arm), Tyler Pitlick (wrist surgery), Martin Hanzal (back), Marc Methot (knee surgery), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson - Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty - Paul Stastny - Mark Stone
Ryan Carpenter - Cody Eakin - Alex Tuch
Tomas Nosek - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Ryan Reaves
Nate Schmidt - Deryk Engelland
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill - Nick Holden
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched:Brandon Pirri, Valentin Zykov, Colin Miller
Injured: Erik Haula (lower body), William Carrier (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.