AHL call-up Matteau expects faster tempo
Forward knows way around NHL
Stefan Matteau remembered how to get to City National Arena. Ditto for T-mobile Arena.
The forward was called up by the Golden Knights on Monday with David Perron and Will Carrier out because of upper-body injuries. Matteau, 23, who had four goals and an assist in 19 games with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, was glad to be back and in the lineup against Dallas.
“I was hoping to get a call,” he said after Tuesday’s morning skate. “I thought I had a good (training) camp and I know the system. We play the same system in Chicago. I just have to go out there and be smart and play hard.”
Matteau has 56 games in the NHL with New Jersey and Montreal since 2013, so he doesn’t figure to be overwhelmed. Matteau skated on the fourth line with Pierre-edouard Bellemare and Tomas Nosek on Tuesday.
“Yeah, it’s a little faster than what I’ve been playing in Chicago, but I know what to expect,” he said.
DISH update
A group of local fans has been unable to enjoy the Knights’ run to the top of the Pacific Division standings because they can’t watch the games on AT&T Sportsnet.
DISH Network has not come to terms with AT&T to add the channel to its lineup locally. The two sides have been haggling over rights fees in the Las Vegas market.
The channel is available to DISH customers outside the Las Vegas area.
“Wehavehadandcontinue to have conversations with distributors in the Vegas Golden Knights television territory,” an AT&T spokesman said Monday. “While we don’t comment on specific negotiations, our desire is to achieve as broad distribution as possible for the Vegas Golden Knights throughout their television territory.”
Father knows best
The Stars hosted their annual “Dad’s Trip” on the two-game road swing to Las Vegas and Chicago, with 15 players’ fathers traveling with the team.
Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock hoped the parental presence provided a bit of extra motivation for a team that lost four straight (0-3-1) on the road prior to Tuesday and was 3-8-1 overall.
“Any time you can look for a cause, or any time you can look for something like that that you want to play for, then that’s an advantage,” Hitchcock said. “Because there’s lot of games in the season, and if you can find special situations where you can take advantage of it emotionally, then you ought to do that because otherwise all the games start to run together.”
Tie a yellow lace
The Stars wore their Jere Lehtinen yellow skate laces for the second consecutive game. Dallas used the yellow laces in its most recent game, a 6-4 win over Calgary on Friday, when Lehtinen had his No. 26 retired by the team.
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter. Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal. com or 702-387-5203. Follow @Davidschoenlvrj on Twitter.