- Miro Heiskanen is doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Sharks
- The Stars defenseman already sat out Thursday’s shootout loss in Columbus
- Read below for what Glen Gulutzan said and who filled in on the blue line
Miro Heiskanen is doubtful to play Saturday when the Stars host the San Jose Sharks.
Dallas head coach Glen Gulutzan gave the update Friday. Heiskanen missed Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss at Columbus and still isn’t ready to go.
Gulutzan was asked about the defenseman’s status for the weekend.
“If he’s ready tomorrow, we would use him, but I think that’s doubtful. We’ll see,” Gulutzan said. “If he’s not ready for tomorrow, those four days are really going to help.”
The four days he mentioned come after Saturday. The Stars don’t play again until Thursday.
Heiskanen’s injury goes back to Tuesday’s 6-5 win at Washington. He left early in the second period after Capitals forward Justin Sourdif hit him into the boards, and the Stars ruled him out with an upper-body injury. We had the first word on it here. Here’s the team’s announcement from that night:
Dallas hasn’t named the injury beyond “upper body.” The team has listed him as day-to-day.
With their top defenseman out Thursday, the minutes went elsewhere. Thomas Harley played 28:31 against the Blue Jackets, Esa Lindell logged 26:05 and Nils Lundkvist skated 21:06, a season high. Rookie Trey Taylor drew in on the third pair next to Tyler Myers for just the second NHL game of his career.
Gulutzan liked what he saw from the group. “I thought our defense all played well,” he said. “When you give up that few of chances and you’ve got a young guy in Taylor, he played well.”
Heiskanen has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 15 games and averages 24:53 of ice time. If he sits again, Taylor is the likely candidate to stay in the lineup.
