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DALLAS — Jamie Benn will try again Thursday night for his 1,000th career point as the Dallas Stars host the Winnipeg Jets at American Airlines Center. The puck drops at 7 p.m. CT.
All 999 of Benn’s points have come with Dallas. Mike Modano is the only player in franchise history with 1,000, and he finished with 1,359. Point 999 came Saturday in a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Roope Hintz dug a puck out from below the goal line and found Benn in the slot.
Dallas took him in the fifth round of the 2007 draft with the 129th pick. This is his 18th season, and he has 3 goals and 4 assists in 17 games. Against Winnipeg, Benn had 19 goals and 26 assists in 52 career games before the Oct. 22 meeting, according to the Stars. Saturday night, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan met with reporters after the win.
“I think Jamie’s playing great hockey,” Gulutzan said. “Offensively, he’s making plays and taking pucks down the ice. He’s playing some good hockey for us. That’s why he’s with [Mikko Rantanen] and [Wyatt Johnston], and I thought that line’s been good and effective.”
Thursday is military and veterans appreciation night at American Airlines Center. The game streams on Prime Video in the Stars’ regional territory, and the radio call airs on The Ticket, 96.7 FM and 1310 AM.
Miro Heiskanen Day-To-Day As Dallas Stars Return From Four-Day Break
Dallas (10-5-2) has not played since Saturday’s win, which opened a four-game homestand. Gulutzan met with reporters after the win, with Thursday next on the schedule.
“To be honest with you, this little break comes at a good time,” Gulutzan explained.
By Saturday night, Gulutzan said, the list of Stars working through bumps and bruises had grown beyond Miro Heiskanen. Heiskanen has an upper-body injury. He has missed two games and is day-to-day.
The injury came Nov. 3, during a 6-5 win over the Washington Capitals. His night ended after one shift in the second period, and he played 9:41. Two nights later, Dallas lost 2-1 in a shootout at the Columbus Blue Jackets without him. He missed Saturday, too. Heiskanen has 3 goals and 8 assists in 15 games. His 24:53 a night was the team high when he got hurt, according to the Stars.
On Tuesday in Frisco, Stars Thoughts reported that Heiskanen was still a few steps away. It did not sound like he had been ruled out for Thursday, the outlet added.
On Monday, Dallas reassigned rookie defenseman Trey Taylor to the AHL’s Texas Stars. Taylor, 24, has played 3 NHL games this season and averaged 10:06 of ice time. Kyle Capobianco is on injured reserve with a leg injury, and Gulutzan said Oct. 29 that he would miss about four weeks. Stars Thoughts noted that those moves leave Dallas with five healthy defensemen.
With Heiskanen out Saturday, Thomas Harley ran the point on the top power-play unit and had a goal and 2 assists, all with the man advantage. Dallas went 3-for-5 on the power play Saturday. After that game, the Stars’ power play ranked eighth in the NHL at 27.5%. Their penalty kill was first at 89.7%. Gulutzan met with reporters after the game.
“You can’t win in the league without them,” Gulutzan said of special teams. “Five-on-five, it seems like the league has gotten so tight. You look at all the games, the margins are just small. The special teams certainly helped us win tonight.”
Harley met with reporters before Saturday’s game. It was Dallas’ first home game without Heiskanen.
“We’re snapping it around pretty quick. I’m trying to distribute, but also be a shot threat from the point. Try and keep those guys honest,” Harley said. “Most of my job is passing left or passing right, and the other guys make it look good.”
Through 17 games, Harley has 2 goals and 9 assists. Gulutzan met with reporters after the win.
“He adds a little bit of a dimension,” Gulutzan said of Harley. “He likes to shoot the puck. You can see that and he takes on a little bit more of a shooter than a distributor. Miro would be the opposite, so sometimes different pieces coming in can bring different skill sets to a power play.”
Jake Oettinger has 3 shutouts in 13 starts. He is 9-3-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. No team had allowed fewer goals than Dallas’ 39 entering the week.
Winnipeg Jets Bring Dawson Mercer, Four-Game Win Streak To Dallas
On Tuesday, Winnipeg (8-8-3) won its fourth straight, 4-2 over the New Jersey Devils. The Jets had gone nine games without a win before the streak, starting Oct. 15. They were 0-7-2 in that run, which included the overtime loss in Dallas.
Dawson Mercer had 2 of the goals against his former team. His second, on the power play at 11:58 of the third period, broke a 2-2 tie. Winnipeg got Mercer and goaltender Nico Daws on Oct. 23, when it traded Connor Hellebuyck to the Devils. In August, Hellebuyck asked for a trade. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner sat out training camp.
New Jersey held him out Tuesday. The Devils said Sunday night that he would not play, citing analysis that it would lower their chances of winning. Hellebuyck has won all five of his starts with New Jersey. Jets coach Scott Arniel spoke with reporters in Winnipeg ahead of the game.
“I’m not sure how this works into the analytics part of it,” Arniel said.
Arniel said he was disappointed Hellebuyck would not play against the Jets. Hellebuyck, who shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, said he wanted to face his former team but understood the decision.
Daws got his first win as a Jet, stopping 19 shots. Mercer has 3 goals and 3 assists for Winnipeg in 9 games. Mercer spoke with reporters after the win.
“He’s great,” Mercer said of Daws. “I think he showed his potential there tonight.”
Kyle Connor scored twice Tuesday as well. One came on the power play, and the other went into an empty net. He leads Winnipeg with 15 goals and has 6 assists. Cole Perfetti added 2 assists and has 7 goals and 9 assists. Mark Scheifele has a four-game point streak, with 2 goals and 5 assists in that span.
Stuart Skinner is 6-4-3 in 13 starts. His goals-against average is 3.26, and his save percentage is .883. Winnipeg’s penalty kill has given up 15 goals on 57 chances.
The first meeting went to overtime Oct. 22, and Dallas won 3-2. Skinner stopped 35 of 38 shots, while Winnipeg managed 19. Wyatt Johnston scored first, at 1:17 of the second period. Gabriel Vilardi tied it at 10:50, and Connor put Winnipeg ahead at 12:38.
Hintz tied it with 2:00 left in regulation, with Oettinger pulled for an extra attacker, on a pass from Mikko Rantanen behind the net. At 3:47 of overtime, Jason Robertson blocked a shot, Heiskanen sprang Hintz on a breakaway, and Hintz beat Skinner five-hole. Hintz spoke after the game that night.
“Then Miro made a great play to me, and I got a breakaway,” Hintz said.
Oettinger shut out the Jets 3-0 in Dallas last April with 22 saves. In the 2025 playoffs, Dallas eliminated Winnipeg in six games in the second round, closing the series with a 2-1 overtime win in Game 6.
Winnipeg is three points behind Dallas with two more games played. The Jets are without forwards Nick Bjugstad, who is on long-term injured reserve with a pectoral injury, and Vladislav Namestnikov, who is on injured reserve. Defenseman Elias Salomonsson is away from the team for a personal matter.
After Thursday, Dallas hosts the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and the Florida Panthers on Sunday, with both games set for 7 p.m. CT. Winnipeg plays at the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
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