Benn_Step

Stars captain Jamie Benn, who left Wednesday's game with an upper-body injury, did not practice Thursday at American Airlines Center.
Coach Jim Montgomery said that Benn was day-to-day, but he did not rule him out for Friday's home game against the Washington Capitals (7 p.m. CT; FS-SW+; KTCK).
"I am hopeful for Jamie Benn for (Friday) night," Montgomery said after Thursday's practice. "We'll see."
Montgomery added that Benn was not in concussion protocol.

Benn was injured when he took a late hit in Wednesday's game from Devils forward Miles Wood, who was given a major penalty for interference but will not receive any supplementary discipline from the league.
With Benn not practicing and the Stars assigning Denis Gurianov to the Texas Stars of the AHL earlier in the day, the team had only 11 healthy forwards for Thursday's practice. Defenseman Julius Honka, who left Wednesday's game with an upper-body injury, practiced and was fine, according to Montgomery.
Montgomery raised the possibility of playing 11 forwards and seven defensemen, something he has done twice this season.

Montgomery gives updates on Benn and Honka

"The games where I have gone 11 forwards and seven (defensemen), I've really liked it because there are players, when you have four lines set, you can't give enough ice time to that are having good nights," Montgomery said.
"We've had nights where Val (Nichushkin) has had great nights. It doesn't matter who, (Tyler) Pitlick, (Mattias) Janmark, sometimes those guys are on and you want to play them over 16 or more towards 18 minutes because it helps our team. That allows us to do that and allows (assistant coach Rick Bowness) the luxury of putting players in minutes where they are best suited as defensemen."
Montgomery also raised the possibility that there could be the call-up of a forward Texas, which Dallas did late in the afternoon by
bringing up veteran right wing Erik Condra
. The 32-year-old Condra leads Texas in scoring with 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 32 games and has played 366 NHL games in his career with Ottawa and Tampa Bay, recording 98 points (39 goals, 59 assists).
So, Friday's morning skate will tell the tale of how Montgomery will put together his lineup when the Stars face the Capitals.
The Stars will come into Friday's game on a 3-0-1 run since the NHL emerged from the holiday break. The Stars are at the midpoint of the season with a 21-16-4 record and were sitting in third place in the Western Conference through Wednesday's games.
The Stars have fared well on their current homestand, scoring 12 goals and averaging 43 shots on goal per game. It's a welcomed trend for Montgomery and the Stars.
"I expected it to happen post-Thanksgiving, to be honest. It's just taken a month longer than I expected," Montgomery said. "You are starting to see the consistency of how we want to play in every zone, and we are becoming a much better hockey team because of it."

Stars hope to see Gurianov improve with AHL stint

Following Thursday's practice, Montgomery talked about Gurianov
heading back to the AHL
. Gurianov didn't play the second half of Monday's game against Montreal and then saw just one shift in the third period of Wednesday's game against New Jersey.
"You could see he was starting to hope to make plays out there. He wasn't jumping off the TV screen or up in the press box, he wasn't jumping out at you anymore," Montgomery said. "You weren't noticing the blazing speed or the dynamic offensive ability. That happens. It is a tough league. It's an opportunity to go down; (Texas coach Derek) Laxdal and his staff have done a great job down there, and players go down there and get better. He's a great coach, and that's a luxury that we have. We get to send players down to get better."
Gurianov had two assists in nine games during this latest recall to the NHL, but no points over his last six games. He has three points (one goal, two assists) in eleven games with Dallas this season.
Gurianov, who has 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in 23 games with Texas this season, has been selected to play in the AHL All-Star game, the league announced Thursday afternoon.
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.