When: Thursday, November 14 at 7:00 PM CT

Where: American Airlines Center

TV: Victory+

Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM

Live Stats: NHL Game Center

Tickets: Single Game / Rentals

Local Parking: AAC Parking Options

Arena Bag Policy: Frequently Asked Questions

Party on PNC Plaza: 5:30 PM South Entrance

Five Points 5️⃣

• The Dallas Stars face the Boston Bruins Thursday night at American Airlines Center for the second and final time this season. Entering Thursday’s match, the Stars are 9-5-0 while the Bruins are 8-7-2.
• The Stars have earned points in five of their last 10 games against Boston.
• Dallas is 37-85-26 all-time vs. Boston, including a 22-38-14 mark at home.
• Captain Jamie Benn has tallied eight points (3-5—8) in 12 career home games against the Bruins.
• Forward Jason Robertson is on a four-game point streak against Boston dating back to Feb. 14, 2023. He has six points (2-4—6) in six career games played against the Bruins, registering points in five of those games

Stats Against Opponent ✍

Players To Watch

Stars forward Mason Marchment tied a Dallas Stars franchise record for points in a single period (1st period) on Nov. 11 at PIT, scoring four points (1-3—4) in the frame. He also became the third Stars player in the last decade to record five points in a game (1-4—5), following Wyatt Johnston (March 5, 2024) and Joe Pavelski (Jan. 12, 2022).

Bruins captain Brad Marchand is riding a three-game point streak (2-1—3) entering Thursday’s contest. Marchand leads the Bruins in points against Dallas since 2008-09 with 23 (12-11—23) in 21 games played. In Boston’s last game played at American Airlines Center, Nov. 6, 2023, Marchand netted the game-winning goal for the Bruins, resulting in a 3-2 win

First Shift

At the very least, Team Finland is getting a “look-see” with the Stars’ new defensive pairing of Esa Lindell and Heiskanen.

“That’s a Four Nations pair, probably,” assistant coach Steve Spott said. “They looked very good together. That’s a tremendous pair for us, but it’s good to spread the wealth, too.”

The Stars reshuffled their defense in the offseason, bidding farewell to Ryan Suter and Jani Hakanpaa, while welcoming Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith and Matt Dumba via free agency. The addition of Lyubushkin and Dumba gives the Stars three right-handed defensemen and means that Heiskanen can play his natural left side if the coaches so desire. However, the talented leading minute man has actually looked good on the right side – at times with Harley and last game with Lindell.

Heiskanen has led the Stars in time on ice for several seasons, and Lindell used to be that guy until his minutes started to slip behind Harley. But the 30-year-old Lindell has more than 600 games under his belt and is one of the most trusted blueliners on the team, so putting him with Heiskanen is a pretty safe bet.

In the first game this season where the two played exclusively together, Heiskanen scored his first two goals of the season and Lindell had two assists. What’s more, they were tremendous against the Penguins’ top players.

Spott took media responsibility after practice on Wednesday to give head coach Pete DeBoer a break. And while Spott coaches forwards, he said DeBoer and defensive assistant coach Alain Nasreddine are working to find the right combinations.

“That’s a daily conversation, trying to find, lefty, lefty, righty, righty,” Spott said. “That’s still a work in progress, but I know it’s something the two of them are talking about every day.”

Both Lindell and Heiskanen are lefties. That means that the best solution below them is to scratch one of the righties. Nils Lundkvist was scratched earlier in the season, but on Monday veteran Dumba was a healthy scratch. That meant Harley (lefty) played beside Lyubushkin (righty) and Smith (lefty) played beside Lundkvist (righty). It looks like those pairs will be the same on Thursday against the Bruins.

“We’ve got seven NHL defensemen here and Smith has played well when he has gone in,” DeBoer said before the Pittsburgh game. “They’re tough decisions, but your play has got to dictate whether you stay in or out.”

Heiskanen said he enjoys playing beside Lindell. The two have known each other for years, and while they haven’t played that much together on the Stars, they have played together for Team Finland.

“Yeah, maybe our first year together here, but more in World Championships or with Finland,” Heiskanen said. “He’s a great player. He’s so good in the D zone and he’s good with the puck too, so it’s fun to play with him.”

Heiskanen said the defensemen are simply doing whatever the coaches tell them.

“It doesn’t matter who you play with. You have to play your game and don’t change too much,” he said. “You try to just prepare yourself to play every game. That’s really the key to it all.”

Key Numbers

5

Stars forward Marchment had 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) against Pittsburgh on Monday, including 4 points in the first period.

Minus-11

The Bruins rank 25th in the league in scoring differential at minus-11. Boston was 9th at plus-43 last season.

1.71

Dallas leads the NHL in home goals against average at 1.71. The Stars are 16th in road GAA at 3.00.

He Said It

“That’s something we have to take advantage of. With our fan support, with our building, there’s no reason to not have great energy. It’s been a challenge in the past, but so far this year it’s been a positive for us and we want to continue to take advantage of that.”

-Stars assistant coach Steve Spott on the fact the Stars are 6-0-0 at American Airlines Center this season

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @MikeHeika.

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