Benn out for Stars against Capitals with upper-body injury

Stars captain Jamie Benn (upper body) won't play tonight when the Dallas Stars take on the Washington Capitals at American Airlines Center (7 p.m. CT; FS-SW+; NHL.TV; KTCK).
Benn, who was injured on a late hit by New Jersey's Miles Wood in Wednesday's 5-4 win, took part in this morning's optional skate at the AAC and wanted to play, but the Stars are going to hold him out of tonight's game.
"He's taken a lot of hard hits here lately, and we just don't want it to linger," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "He wanted to play because he's a warrior, but we are not going to take that opportunity.
"A couple more days here and he'll be fine in Winnipeg (Sunday)."

With Benn not playing, Valeri Nichushkin will skate on the top line with Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov. The Blake Comeau-Radek Faksa-Tyler Pitlick line will stay intact. Jason Spezza will center Devin Shore and Brett Ritchie. The fourth line will be Mattias Janmark, Roope Hintz, and Erik Condra, who was recalled from the AHL on Thursday.
The 32-year-old Condra leads the Texas Stars in scoring with 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 32 games. He's played 366 NHL games with Ottawa and Tampa Bay. Condra's a seasoned pro and is used to making the adjustment from being a big minute guy in the AHL to a role player in the NHL.

"[The coach] wants guys to do the right thing and making plays at the same time," Condra said. "I've played most of the games in the NHL as a bottom six guy, so I know how to do it. It's nice to go down and score some goals and get some confidence in the AHL and hopefully it carries over."
Montgomery coached Condra in his first year of coaching at Notre Dame.
"Extremely bright, extremely competitive," Montgomery said. "He, as I, wished he was a little more fleet of foot, but his brain makes up for it. He wins a lot of battles. He is someone that is going to help us."
There are no changes on defense; the Stars are expected to go with the same defense pairs as last game: Esa Lindell-John Klingberg; Miro Heiskanen-Roman Polak; Julius Honka-Taylor Fedun. Connor Carrick will be the scratch on defense.
Anton Khudobin gets the start in goal tonight.
The Stars (21-16-4) wrap up a four-game homestand tonight. They are 2-0-1 in the first three games and are 3-0-1 in their last four games overall. They come into tonight's game in third place in the Central Division.

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Opposition watch: Washington Capitals

The Capitals (24-12-3) lost 5-2 at St. Louis last night. It was the second straight loss for Washington, which has been outscored 11-5 in the two games. The back-to-back losses follow a stretch that saw the Capitals win nine of ten games (9-1-0).
Pheonix Copley will get the start in goal tonight. He is 9-2-1 with a 2.61 goals against average and .914 save percentage.

Stat pack

Tonight's game

Who:Washington Capitals at Dallas Stars
Where: American Airlines Center
When:7 p.m.
TV:Fox Sports Southwest Plus
Radio:The Ticket 1310-AM/96.7-FM

Stars projected lineup

Valeri Nichushkin - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Devin Shore - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Mattias Janmark - Roope Hintz - Erik Condra
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Julius Honka - Taylor Fedun
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched:Connor Carrick
Injured:Jamie Benn (upper body), Jason Dickinson (back), Martin Hanzal (back), Marc Methot (knee), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky - Lars Eller - Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson - Travis Boyd - Devante Smith-Pelley
Michal Kempny - John Carlson
Matt Niskanen - Dmitry Orlov
Brooks Orpik - Madison Bowey
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Nic Dowd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured:Christian Djoos (leg)
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.