Stars News and Notes
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
Stars defenseman Karlis Skrastins had his right index finger bandaged and a handful of extra bandages as he was getting ready to leave the Stars practice facility in Frisco Friday. He is expected to miss Saturday's game after he was cut by a skate in Thursday's 3-1 win over Anaheim.
"I didn't see the replay but I knew something wasn't right there," said Skrastins, who needed 14 stitches to repair the cut. "It was a little bit scary. You think it's maybe even deeper."
But there was no damage to the ligaments, tendons or bone. Skrastins was injured when he went to make a diving poke check on Evgeny Artyukhin in the third period and the Anaheim forward's skate went over Skrastins' hand.
"I feel lucky," Skrastins said. "Artyukhin is a big guy."
While he said he doesn't expect to play Saturday, the hope Skrastins will be back when the Stars open their next road trip in Anaheim on Tuesday.
"I'll need a couple days before [I can grip my stick]," he said.
With Skrastins out for Saturday, Stars head coach Marc Crawford said Jeff Woywitka, who has been a scratch in the last four games and seven of the last nine, will be back in the lineup.
Afternoon tilt
Saturday's game against the Edmonton Oilers will be the Stars' first afternoon game of the season. It's a 1 p.m. start at the American Airlines Center.
"Afternoon games are always somewhat of a challenge," said Stars head coach Marc Crawford. "You're throwing off your preparation a little bit. We make everyone aware of it. We'll have good meetings in the morning and hopefully get off to a better start than we did [Thursday] night."
Stars Notes
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Stars head coach Marc Crawford said Marty Turco would start in goal Saturday.
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Crawford said he expected to keep Steve Ott on a line with Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson and James Neal on a line with Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen. Crawford indicated he could tweak the lineup, but that decision would be made Saturday.
