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This article was published 06/10/2018 (1701 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DALLAS — One team is leaving the American Airlines Center tonight feeling mighty good about their start to the season.

Both the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars hope it will be them.

Winnipeg kicked off their 2018-19 campaign with a 5-1 victory Thursday night in St. Louis, while Dallas rolled to a 3-0 win at home against Arizona.

Up for grabs tonight is a perfect 2-0-0 start in the ultra-competitive Central Division.

“They’re a pretty talented group up front. They can be pretty dynamic,” coach Paul Maurice said of the Stars following Saturday’s optional morning skate. Just 10 players participated, with the majority opting to conserve their energy. Maurice said that may become a regular part of their routine going forward, especially on game-days with an earlier puck drop such as tonight’s 6 p.m. start.

Winnipeg will go with the same lineup as their opener, with Connor Hellebuyck back in net after a 41-save, first-star performance. Ben Bishop gets the start for Dallas after posting a 30-save shutout against the Coyotes.

Patrik Laine and Bryan Little are good to go after missing Friday’s practice in Dallas. Dmitry Kulikov, Marko Dano and Brendan Lemieux will be the healthy scratches.

Winnipeg won all four games against Dallas last season. The teams traditionally have played fairly wide-open, exciting games.

“I think there’s going to be pieces of this game that look like that. It’s a function of some of that skill,” said Maurice.

Winnipeg flies home following the game and will have an off-day Sunday. The team will practise Monday to get ready for Tuesday night’s home opener against the Los Angeles Kings.

JETS PROJECTED LINEUP

G

Hellebuyck

F

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler

Perreault-Little-Laine

Copp-Lowry-Tanev

Vesalainen-Roslovic-Ehlers

D

Morrissey-Trouba

Chiarot-Byfuglien

Morrow-Myers

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg