The Dallas Stars will begin their longest road trip of the season without their captain.
Jamie Benn will miss at least the East Coast leg of the Stars’ upcoming six-game road trip as he continues to be evaluated after suffering a facial injury in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Montreal, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said Monday.
Early in the third period, Benn fell to the ice after making contact with Montreal’s Zachary Bolduc and appeared to hit his face directly on the ice. Benn was bleeding and needed to be helped down the tunnel. He didn’t returned.
Officials reviewed the play for a high stick, but there was ultimately no penalty called.
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Gulutzan said Monday that Benn had stitches on his nose but did not say whether he was in concussion protocol. The captain was still being evaluated when the team was set to board its flight to Raleigh for Tuesday’s game against the Hurricanes.
The Stars’ six-game road trip will take Dallas to Carolina and Washington before they fly directly across the country to San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Utah. Gulutzan said it’s possible, depending on word from the doctors, that Benn could join the team out west.
The Stars captain has seven goals and seven assists in 23 games for Dallas this year. He missed the Stars’ first 19 games of the season recovering from surgery for a punctured lung he suffered in the preseason.
Benn is also one of just four players left in the league who does not wear a visor because he was grandfathered in before a 2013 NHL rule mandated protecting players from facial injuries. Ryan O’Reilly, Zach Bogosian and Ryan Reaves are the others who choose not to wear visors.
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