Tuesday Dallas Stars Roundup: Unfortunate Updates on Nils Lundkvist and Roope Hintz, Ilya Lyubushkin's Playoff Return, and an Overtime Snack Survey

As we suspected, Ilya Lyubushkin will indeed be drawing in for Nils Lundkvist in Game 5. Dallas’s forwards will remain the same from Game 4, while Minnesota looks like they’ll be getting back one or both of Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin.

Both teams held technically optional morning skates, and while most players¹ still participated, no lines or pairings were run. John Hynes officially termed both Trenin and Zuccarello as “game-time decisions” this morning, but Zuccarello reportedly was a power play participant in practice yesterday for Minnesota. Everything thus far indicates he’ll be in the lineup tonight, likely back with Ryan Hartman and Kirill Kaprizov.

Where Lyubushkin will play is less clear, though I’m inclined to stick with my guess from yesterday that he’ll be with Lian Bichsel on the third pairing, while Tyler Myers will move up next to Thomas Harley.

As for Lundkvist’s facial laceration and potential return, we did get a bit more detail today from Glen Gulutzan when he was asked whether Lundkvist’s return is just about when the cut heals, or whether there was something else the team is waiting for before he can play.

“There is a little bit of something else going on,” Gulutzan answered. “We’ll wait and see how that transpires. It was a very deep cut, so we’ve gotta see how that transpires.”

What that “something else” could be, only the Stars know, and they’re not telling. But given the force of the skate into Lundkvist’s face, a variety of things could be involved. As of now, the Stars will hold out hope that he can return for Game 6, or Game 7 at the latest (should it be necessary).

Roope Hintz sounds increasingly likely to miss the first round altogether, which Gulutzan all but acknowledged this morning when confirming Hintz would be out for Game 6 on Thursday.