Stars video coach Kelly Forbes erased a Chicago goal with a successful challenge for offside that negated Patrick Kane’s first-period goal. After review, the NHL ruled that Kirby Dach “preceded the puck into the offensive zone and was in an off-side position.”
“Quite honestly, I thought Jake Oettinger was our best player tonight,” assistant coach John Stevens said. “Our second-best player was Kelly Forbes. I thought that was a huge call early in the game.”
This season, the Stars are 2 for 2 on coach’s challenges. Since video review was instituted for the 2015-16 season, the Stars are 13 for 14 on offside challenges. Had the Stars been wrong and the goal upheld, Dallas would have been assessed a two-minute minor for delay of game. Instead, the challenge kept the game level early on.
Voting changes: The PHWA announced Tuesday morning changes to year-end voting for league awards, which could benefit Stars rookie forward Jason Robertson in his chase for the Calder Trophy.
The PHWA will use 100 voters this season, 20 from each of the four divisions and 20 national reporters and broadcasters that are considered at-large. If this season’s voting matched last year’s, the vast plurality of votes would come from Canada: 82 from the North, 36 from the East, 20 from the Central, 18 from the West, 15 U.S.-based broadcasters and four from Europe.
With the new voting bloc, the Central Division will have a greater share of overall votes, which could come in handy as Robertson tries to chase down frontrunner and oft-discussed Kirill Kaprizov in Minnesota.
Injury updates: Stevens said defenseman Joel Hanley (lower-body) skated on his own Tuesday morning, but would still need a few days before he was ready to play. Hanley got hurt Thursday in Nashville and Tuesday was his third straight missed game.
Radek Faksa (upper-body) returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game in Carolina. He centered Jamie Benn and Denis Gurinaov.
Fresh blood: Stars prospects Jordan Kawaguchi and Adam Scheel made their professional debuts on Tuesday night with AHL affiliate Texas. Scheel started in goal, while Kawaguchi played left wing on a line with Josh Melnick and Anthony Louis. Kawaguchi scored in the second period.
Both Kawaguchi and Scheel finished careers with North Dakota before signing with Dallas last week.
