- Tyler Seguin played his first game since tearing his ACL last December
- He finished plus-1 in 13:57 of ice time as the Stars beat the Wild 2-1
- Read below for what Seguin said about the return, plus Roope Hintz’s own comeback
Tyler Seguin played his first hockey game in 10 months.
The Stars forward suited up in Dallas’ 2-1 preseason finale win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday at Grand Casino Arena, his first game action since tearing his ACL last season.
Seguin logged 13:57 of ice time and finished plus-1. Those are modest numbers for a guy who’s put up 84 points in a season before, but exactly the kind of low-pressure night he needed to shake off the rust.
He was asked what it felt like getting back into a real game again, even an exhibition one.
“It’s great. Feels like your first game all over again,” Seguin said. “In one way it’s nice to get that out of the way, in another way it was just so much fun.”
Watch the Stars close out their preseason slate:
Seguin tore the ACL in his right knee during a 3-2 overtime loss at the New York Rangers on Dec. 2. He had surgery two weeks later, and the typical recovery timeline for that injury runs about nine months.
He had 17 points in 27 games and was a plus-10 before the injury, numbers that put him right back into Dallas’ top-six mix once he’s fully up to speed.
Seguin called his rehab the toughest stretch of his career back when he first got on the ice in September. Friday was the payoff.
He wasn’t the only one working his way back into the lineup. Roope Hintz returned from the torn hamstring that cost him Dallas’ playoff run, playing 17:50 with two shots on goal and two blocked shots.
Dallas closed out its four-game exhibition slate unbeaten. Radek Faksa opened the scoring in the first period, assisted by Oskar Bäck and newcomer Joel Kiviranta.
Joel Eriksson Ek tied it for the Wild in the second, but Thomas Harley scored the eventual winner just before intermission, set up by Mikko Rantanen and Jamie Benn.
Jake Oettinger sat out again, so his first action of the year will come in the regular season. Casey DeSmith started in his place and stopped 26 of 27 shots.
The Stars open the regular season Oct. 2 against the Blues. For the first time since December, Seguin will be in the lineup with nothing left to prove about his knee.
