The injury bug has hit the Dallas Stars again as forward Patrick Sharp went on injured reserve Saturday. Sharp, who missed 14 games earlier this season with a concussion, is back in concussion protocol.
"He has concussion symptoms. We don't know if it is related to the last one," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "He's going to be evaluated, and obviously he is going to be out. It's something he missed a lot of time with and something we want to be really careful with."
Sharp is on IR retroactive to Dec. 1. His injury leaves the Stars with 12 healthy forwards for tonight's game against Colorado. Adam Cracknell and Curtis McKenzie, who sat out as healthy scratches Thursday when the Stars played just 11 forwards in Pittsburgh, will both be in the lineup tonight, Ruff said. The team will address possible call-ups next week.
Defensemen Jamie Oleksiak and Patrik Nemeth are expected to be the scratches tonight. The Stars defense pairs tonight are expected to be Esa Lindell-John Klingberg, Dan Hamhuis-Julius Honka, Jordie Benn-Stephen Johns.
Kari Lehtonen was the first goaltender off the ice, so he is expected to get the start in goal. Lehtonen stopped 34 of 36 shots in the 3-2 win over Colorado in Dallas on Nov. 17.
The Stars come into tonight's game 0-2-1 on their current road trip, which concludes tonight in Denver. Ruff said he's seen the team's play trending in the right direction the past two games even though the results haven't been there in a 3-1 loss to Detroit on Tuesday and a 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday.
"We've done a lot of good things in the last two games. The score looked ugly in the last game, but it was really a 3-2 game. We took some chances at the end," Ruff said. "We missed way too many good opportunities. I like five of our last six periods, and we've got nothing for it. We've got to change that. We've got to make sure on some of those opportunities we find the back of the net, and we've got to show some patience when we are chasing the game, so we don't give up the big opportunities."
Sharp out with concussion-like symptoms
Forward placed on IR; Lehtonen in goal as Stars look to wrap up road trip with win in Colorado
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