First Shift: Stankoven continues to impress as Stars square off with Avalanche

The challenges just keep coming for Logan Stankoven, and the Stars’ top prospect seems to be ready for all of them.

Stankoven made his NHL debut on Saturday at Carolina, posting three shots and skating 15 minutes in a 2-1 win. He then played his first home game on Monday and tallied his first NHL goal and assist. On Tuesday, he will play his first back-to-back game and also maybe his most important game so far as the Stars travel to Central Division rival Colorado.

“I thought he had a hell of a first game,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “What an ask against that team. You’re not going to find any team that puts more pressure on you or that is in your face more than Carolina. There wasn’t a lot of room on the ice for either team and for him to play 15 minutes – and effective minutes - I thought that was really impressive for a young guy.”

Stankoven turned 21 on Monday and has had his parents and sister in attendance for each of his first two games. He grew up in Kamloops and played his junior hockey there, so he has lived at home most of his life – a luxury for hockey players. But he is living on his own in Cedar Park while playing for the Texas Stars this season, so having his family in the building has been special.

“It’s my first year away from home, so it’s been a change and it’s nice to see the family,” he said.

That’s another part of the challenge against the Avalanche, but it’s all part of the process. Stankoven was among the leading scorers in the Canadian Hockey League and then was leading the AHL in scoring at the time of his call up. He has an impressive resume.

“He’s a pretty confident kid,” Duchene said. “I think he’s confident in his abilities. He’s taken the right path to get here, so I think he’s ready to handle the challenge. And his track record in getting here shows you that he has a right to be confident about that.”

Stankoven said the game is faster and tougher in the NHL, but he said he feels good about how he has started.

“The speed and the decision making,” he said when asked what was different. “There’s not a lot of time and space out there, so when you get a chance you want to bear down.”

And playing at that level now, what does it mean?

“I think it’s just a bit of a confidence booster,” he said. “After that first game, you know you can play with them, but now it’s about maintaining that and getting better each game. You kind of got your feet wet the first game, but now it’s time to keep that going and keep building chemistry with my linemates.”

Key Numbers

13
Teams that have come into Denver to play the Avalanche on the second night of a back-to-back have lost 13 straight games. Colorado also has the most home wins in the league at 22-6-0.

11
Stars forward Jason Robertson has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) in his past seven games against Colorado.

96
Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon ranks second in the NHL with 96 points (34 goals, 62 assists).

He Said It

“He’s been dealing with something from even prior to [the Ottawa game], but it hasn’t gotten better, it’s actually gotten worse. I think the Ottawa game was kind of the last straw.”

- Stars coach Pete DeBoer on a lower body injury to Tyler Seguin that has him out “week to week”.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.