Dallas @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 24, 2019 ) Dallas 2, St. Louis 1

The St. Louis Blues received a quick lesson in what every Stanley Cup champion must face -- the knowledge that every opponent will bring their best against them. After dropping their season opener to Washington to spoil a night in which they raised their championship banner, the Blues will face another highly motivated foe when they host the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

St. Louis squandered an early two-goal deficit in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Capitals as goaltender Jordan Binnington absorbed only his third home loss in 17 starts. The Blues were nearly derailed by Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals last season, having to rally from a 3-2 series deficit before prevailing in double overtime in Game 7. The Stars not only dropped their season opener, falling to Boston 2-1 after giving up goals on the first two shots against them, but lost three players to injury. "Next man up," coach Jim Montgomery said. "We went through it all of last year and we're a resilient group. We're a deep organization and we're going to be OK."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), FS Midwest (St. Louis)

ABOUT THE STARS (0-1-0): Defenseman Roman Polak had to be stretchered off the ice in the first period and wound up sustaining a small fracture of his sternum and will be re-evaluated in a week. Dallas also took a few hits along its forward line as Blake Comeau (lower body) and Jason Dickinson (upper body) were placed on injured reserve, with the former expected to miss several weeks and the latter expected to sit out a week. Joe Pavelski had a solid performance in his Stars debut, picking up an assist on their lone goal.

ABOUT THE BLUES (0-1-0): St. Louis signed forward Brayden Schenn to an eight-year, $52 million contract extension Friday. The 28-year-old Schenn, entering his third year with the Blues, established career highs across the board with 28 goals, 42 assists and 70 points in 2017-18, but he dipped to 17 goals and 54 points last season. "Over the period of the contract, the term, the team's going to change but the one thing that doesn't is the city. It's a great city to live in, a great organization to play for, so I'm looking forward to it," Schenn said.

OVERTIME

1. Dallas recalled Fs Nick Caamano and Rhett Gardner from Texas of the American Hockey League.

2. Blues F Robert Thomas is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

3. The Stars placed F Martin Hanzal on long-term injured reserve.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Stars 2