Khudobin in goal, Radulov out as Stars face Maple Leafs

The Dallas Stars will look to win consecutive road games for the first time since the middle of last season when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at Scotiabank Arena.
The Stars, who won their first road game of this season Tuesday in Montreal, haven't won consecutive road games since they put together three straight victories from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8 last season.
Coach Jim Montgomery will do some shuffling of his forward lines for tonight's game, including splitting up Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin again. Also, Alexander Radulov is out tonight with a lower-body injury and will not play for the fifth time in the last six games.

Seguin will center Mattias Janmark and Devin Shore, who had one goal and two assists in Tuesday's win over Montreal. Benn will skate with Jason Spezza and Valeri Nichushkin.
This morning, Montgomery talked about the decision on Benn and Seguin, who started Tuesday's game on different lines as well.
"We're just trying to change things up, maybe ignite them and maybe ignite the team," Montgomery said. "Last game I put them back together after a period, and it really didn't seem to work so we're going to separate them a little longer until we do find something."
Radek Faksa will center Tyler Pitlick and Blake Comeau and the other line will feature Toronto natives Gemel Smith, Jason Dickinson, and Brett Ritchie.
"We think that [line of Toronto natives] is going give us a lot of energy tonight," Montgomery said.

Justin Dowling will be the healthy scratch up front tonight.
There will be no changes on defense. The Stars are expected to start with the pairs of Esa Lindell-John Klingberg, Marc Methot-Miro Heiskanen, and Julius Honka-Roman Polak, but the pairs will be mixed during the game.
"[Assistant coach Rick Bowness] is doing a really good job getting the people out we want against who, so he is mixing and matching," Montgomery said. "Heiskanen, the way he is playing, is starting to play in the mid-20s, so he is going to play with different partners."
Defenseman Connor Carrick remains out with a foot injury.
Anton Khudobin will get the start in goal tonight, his third of the season. Montgomery said Wednesday that he had been leaning towards Khudobin tonight, Ben Bishop in Washington Saturday, Khudobin in Boston Monday, and Bishop in Columbus Tuesday.
"That's the way we laid it out, but Bish is making it hard not to go with him all of the time," Montgomery said. "But Khudobin is a big part of our team, and with Bish our schedule is starting to get busy. I know he's been our best player, but you have to worry long-term.
"We don't want to break him down."
Tonight is the third game of a six-game road trip for the Stars (6-5-0).

Opposition watch: Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs (8-4-0) are coming off a 3-1 loss to Calgary on Monday. It was Toronto's first game without center Auston Matthews who is expected to miss one month with a shoulder injury. Monday's loss was the third in the last four home games for Toronto. The Leafs will make some changes on defense tonight. Justin Holl will make his season debut, and Travis Dermott will come in after not playing the past three games, two due to injury and one as a healthy scratch. Frederik Andersen is the likely starter in goal.

Stat pack

Tonight's game

Who:Dallas Stars at Toronto Maple Leafs
Where:Scotiabank Arena
When: 6:00 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports Southwest
Radio:The Ticket 1310-AM/96.7-FM

Stars projected lineup

Devin Shore - Tyler Seguin - Mattias Janmark
Jamie Benn - Jason Spezza - Valeri Nichushkin
Tyler Pitlick - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Gemel Smith - Jason Dickinson - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Marc Methot - Miro Heiskanen
Julius Honka - Roman Polak
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched:Justin DowlingInjured:Alexander Radulov (lower body), Connor Carrick (foot), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Mitchell Marner
Zach Hyman - John Tavares - Kasperi Kapanen
Andreas Johnsson - Par Lindholm - Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis - Frederik Gauthier - Josh Leivo
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott - Justin Holl
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched:Martin Marincin, Igor OzhiganovInjured:Auston Matthews (shoulder)
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.