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In the second period of Thursday's 4-1 loss to Columbus, Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow took a puck to his right knee. To his credit, he did try to go in the third period but his opening shift lasted just 21 seconds before he realized he was done for the night.
And after the game, Morrow was seen walking around with a noticeable limp. He did not practice today and did have his right knee wrapped. Still, he could be on the ice for tomorrow night's New Year's Eve clash with reigning NHL Stanley Cup champion Boston.
"Yeah, he took a shot off his knee. He's got some heavy swelling and bruising, but he felt better than we thought he was going to this morning," Dallas head coach Glen Gulutzan said after practice on Friday. "I would say knowing Minnie, he's a probable for tomorrow but there's still some healing that has to get done before that's a go."
Morrow did speak briefly after practice about his status going forward. "Nothing official, I didn't skate today but I plan to skate tomorrow," he said.
Even with Morrow's somewhat uncertain status for Saturday and heading into the first week of 2012, one thing the Stars aren't about to do, at least not yet, is recall anyone from their top minor-league affiliate, the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League.
"Yeah, that's the plan going forward and we'll be right at our number. But I think if we were going on the road, we'd probably bring somebody with us but right now, we'll stay where we're at," Gulutzan said.
Saturday's morning skate will likely be the determining factor as to whether or not the Stars will have their captain on the pond for the visit by the B's or if he will miss his seventh game of the season due to injury.
But if the Stars are without Morrow, their head coach has already thought about how he might shuffle lines in his absence.
"Yeah, we have thought about that," Gulutzan said. "It looks like it'd either be Burish that we'd move up there or maybe we move Wandell up and move Jamie Benn to the wing with Loui Eriksson. Wandell had by his own admission a subpar game in St. Louis but last night, he was effective and did a lot of good things. If you give him Wandell a chance to play up in the lineup, you never know."
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