"As a coaching staff we were just more comfortable with what we were getting from that six, and it's what we were winning with," Montgomery said of the decision to make the change on defense.
There was some question about Hanley's availability for tonight's game since he was put on waivers Monday and available to be claimed by another team. But he cleared waivers just as the Stars' morning skate was concluding at the AAC. Hanley is available to be sent down to the AHL and likely will be in the near future to open a roster spot as John Klingberg (hand injury) gets ready to come off injured reserve, but he is going to stay for now and play tonight.
Ben Bishop will get the start in goal against the Flames.
The Stars (16-14-3) are coming off a 0-4-0 road trip and a road-heavy portion of their schedule in which they played 17 of their last 24 games on the road and went 11-10-3 during that stretch. Now, they will see a lot of home games -- seven of the next nine and 14 of the next 20 will be played at the AAC, where they are 10-3-1 this season.
"It's important to get as many points as we can to make up for the points that we lost," Shore said. "That said, you don't want to dwell on it too much because games come at you pretty fast and heavy in this league.
"But it's no secret that we've done well in this building, and we just want to keep that going to build something where we can be confident going up against any opponent in any building."
