Stars look to raise 'competitive levels' at Wild

After rolling out some of their big guns in Tuesday's preseason opener against St. Louis, the Dallas Stars will go with a different looking lineup for Thursday night's exhibition game in Minnesota.
Still plenty of NHL players, but with a few more younger players as Stars coach Jim Montgomery and his staff try to get players up to speed on the team's style of play.

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"We're trying to increase our competitive levels and how much pace we can play with," Montgomery said. "For the young guys who are playing, we want to see who can assimilate the way we want to play and naturally just start playing on instinct so that we have more puck pressure and better possession time."
Radek Faksa will center the top line tonight with Valeri Nichushkin and Blake Comeau. The second line has Devin Shore, Roope Hintz, and Tyler Pitlick and the third line has Remi Elie, Jason Dickinson, and Gemel Smith.
Shore, Hintz, Elie, Dickinson, and Smith are considered among the key contenders for spots on the fourth line. Montgomery said he'll give those two lines good looks against Minnesota's top players tonight to see how they fare.

On defense, Miro Heiskanen will play a second straight preseason game. This time the left-handed shooting Heiskanen will skate with veteran Marc Methot and play on the right side, something he did in the top league in Finland.
"We're going to see because I haven't seen it," Montgomery said. "But he seems to have [that versatility] because he makes the game look easy. His brain is two steps ahead of everybody else."
Julius Honka will get a second straight game on defense and will play with Dillon Heatherington, who is getting his first look this preseason and is likely the eighth defenseman on the depth chart. Gavin Bayreuther also gets a second straight game on defense and will play with Reece Scarlett.
Anton Khudobin and Colton Point, who will make his NHL preseason debut, are expected to split the game in goal.
For Minnesota, which is playing its third exhibition game, goaltender Devan Dubnyk, forwards Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise and defenseman Jared Spurgeon all get in their first preseason games this season. Forwards Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and former Stars defenseman Greg Pateryn are on the roster for tonight as well.

Tonight's game

Who: Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild
Where: Xcel Energy Center
When: 7 p.m.
Local TV/Radio: None

Stars projected lineup

Valeri Nichushkin - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Devin Shore - Roope Hintz - Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie - Jason Dickinson - Gemel Smith
Denis Gurianov - Justin Dowling - Erik Condra
Marc Methot - Miro Heiskanen
Dillon Heatherington - Julius Honka
Gavin Bayreuther - Reece Scarlett
Anton Khudobin
Colton Point
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.