Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen remains out of the lineup for their critical Game 5 against the Colorado Avalanche, coach Peter DeBoer announced on Monday.
The Avalanche and Stars are tied 2-2 ahead of Game 5 in Dallas.
Heiskanen remains "day to day," having not played since Jan. 28 when his left knee was injured in a collision with Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone. Heiskanen had knee surgery and has been working his way back into the lineup, skating with the team during the first four games of this series.
On Saturday, Heiskanen participated in the Dallas morning skate and took reps with the Stars' power play unit, building anticipation he might make a dramatic return from injury on home ice -- much like Gabriel Landeskog did for the Avalanche in Denver.
But DeBoer confirmed his top defenseman would remain out of the lineup for Game 5.
Heiskanen had 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 50 games this season, averaging 25:10 in ice time.
DeBoer was asked if playing seven defenseman instead of six might be an option later in the series, just to get Heiskanen back on the ice for Dallas and ease him into action.
"Everything like that is on the table. We're not in a 'Miro come back in' situation yet, so I don't want to get into hypotheticals. But if we do get into that spot, all those options are on the table," said the coach.
DeBoer said the Stars will make one lineup change, with forward Oskar Bäck in for forward Mavrik Bourque.
The Stars were dominated 4-0 in their Game 4 loss in Colorado, as the Avalanche found their game and got an extra jolt from Landeskog's first goal since June 20, 2022. While the Avalanche's top players have carried them offensively, Dallas's top offensive players like Wyatt Johnston (2 assists), Roope Hintz (1 goal), Matt Duchene (zero points) and trade deadline coups Mikko Rantanen (1 assist) and Mikael Granlund (1 assist) have yet to make their marks on the series.
"I don't think any of our big guys have delivered yet [in] this series. But the beauty of this is it's time now. This is money time," said DeBoer. "I actually like the fact that we haven't [delivered] yet, because I think those guys are all due."