Preview: Stars, Coyotes excited to put on show for fans in El Paso

Stars (0-1-2, 2 points) vs. Coyotes (3-0-0, 6 points)

It's part of the coaching staff seeing what they have and simply working different solutions to future problems.
"We're going to move guys all around," Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. "You're going to see Benn play some left wing, Glendening play some center. We're going to move guys around."
The players have that experience in the past, so they say they are used to it. Glendening can play all three forward positions, Benn has gone entire seasons at center and played about half of last season in the pivot. Joe Pavelski can play both center and right wing. Same with Tyler Seguin. That allows the coaching staff to look at different things.

Bowness said he likes to have two players on a line and then alternate if he can. He currently likes Seguin with Alexander Radulov and then is changing the left wing. Last game, Michael Raffl played left wing. This game, Faksa will be on the flank.
"You make sure you have duos, and sometimes that third guy has to change," Bowness said. "Seggy and Rads do really well, but sometimes the left wing has got to change. Roope and and Robo fit really well. It's just trial and error. Sometimes, you have to tweak it just to change things up. It gets a little stale, you tweak it."
And as for a first, second or third line, Bowness has already blanched when Benn's line was referred to as the "third line."
"It's not first, second, or third. It's who's going, it's minutes," he said. "If you're not going, you're not going and the other guys will go."

What to watch

Video: Morning skate report from El Paso
Bowness didn't mince words when he was evaluating the first game that John Klingberg and Ryan Suter played together. Suter was minus-2 and Klingberg was minus-1 as each played about 26 minutes in a 4-3 shootout loss to Florida on Wednesday.
"They took a few unnecessary gambles," Bowness said. "They moved the puck really well, but there were a couple of terrible reads defensively that I didn't like."
Bowness said he is looking forward to the veterans getting more time together. Klingberg has been the Stars' time on ice leader for several seasons, while Suter is joining Dallas after nine seasons in Minnesota. Both should take a step forward tonight.
"They're two veterans and some of the mistakes they made had nothing to do with the chemistry," Bowness said. "They were just bad individual read, so you have to give them time to work that chemistry between them, but they also have to take individual responsibility."

Lineup updates

Some fun shuffling for this one. Benn with Faksa and Gurianov, Jacob Peterson with Seguin and Radulov, and then a line of Mavrik Bourque centering Riley Tufte and Pavelski. It'll be interesting to see how the two younger players react to the cerebral veteran.
Thomas Harley will play beside Miro Heiskanen on defense, so that will also be worth watching.

Here were the line rushes in the morning skate:
Peterson-Seguin-Radulov
Faksa-Benn-Gurianov
Tufte-Bourque-Pavelski
Raffl-Glendening-Dellandrea
Suter-Klingberg
Harley-Heiskanen
Borgman-Petrovic
Oettinger
Khudobin

Numbers

43

Bourque had 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists) in 28 games last season with Shawinigan in the QMJHL. The 19-year-old center then came up and contributed five points (one goal, four assists) in six AHL games. He's looked good so far in preseason.

3

Gurianov has three points (two goals, one assist) in two preseason games so far. He also has nine shots on goal.

#

.870

Dallas goalies have a 3.86 GAA and .870 save percentage in three preseason games this year.

He said it

"The biggest difference that I've seen this year is his handling the puck. He's carrying it more, he's doing more with it, he's far more confident with the puck now as opposed to last time we saw him. Obviously, with his size, skating is good, everything is good, but he's got to show us that he can handle the puck with pressure and make plays with it, which is what he's done." -- Bowness on 23-year-old winger Tufte, who has made a strong impression in camp
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.