Dallas has started the season 4-1-1 and has played great hockey, but this will be probably the biggest test of the young campaign. Boston is 5-1-0 and is playing well under Montgomery. The former Stars coach was fired with cause back in December of 2019. He entered a rehab facility for problems with alcohol and eventually got a job as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. He was hired by Boston as their new head coach in the summer.
"I'm very fortunate that I have a lot of great people in my life, a lot of good mentors,'' Montgomery said at his opening press conference with the Bruins. "Everyone has ups and downs in life, and if you learn from them, you grow and get better.''
While the old coaching staff that was with Montgomery has since left, the coach will see some familiar faces in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. He's faced the Stars several times as an assistant coach, so he said this is just a continuation of that.
"Great people in Dallas, players and management that I really respect and loved working with, but it's just another team," Montgomery said. "It's more about the Boston Bruins."
Oettinger likely won't see a lot of his friends with the back-to-back, but he said he was excited about the opportunity. He went 58-40-11 in three season with BU and was drafted by the Stars in the first round in 2017.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer knows that it's important to Oettinger, and that's one of the reasons he got the start on Tuesday and not Monday.
"I've always believed that stuff's important," DeBoer said. "When you sit around and talk to players, it's important to them, coming back. They're not going to complain if it doesn't happen, but it's important to them. I believe that."
Key Numbers
38
Joe Pavelski is the oldest player in franchise history to record a hat trick after netting three goals against Montreal on Saturday. Pavelsi was 38 years, 103 days at the time.
12.7
Dallas ranks third in the NHL with 12.7 giveaways per game.
59.3 percent
Boston leads the NHL in faceoff winning percentage at 59.3 percent. Dallas shares 14th at 51.4 percent.
He said it
"We didn't do enough anywhere on the ice to win a game."
- Stars coach Pete DeBoer after a 4-2 loss to Ottawa on Monday.
Expected lineup
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Marchment-Seguin-Peterson
Benn-Johnston-Dellandrea
Faksa-Glendening-Kiviranta
Heiskanen-Miller
Lindell-Lundkvist
Suter-Hakanpaa
Wedgewood
Oettinger
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.
