Stars’ Ilya Lyubushkin leaves game with upper-body injury

Dallas Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin (46) in action during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche at American Airlines Center.
Credit: © Jerome Miron

The Dallas Stars have announced that Ilya Lyubushkin has left Tuesday’s game against the New York Rangers due to an upper-body injury.

Lyubushkin sustained the injury midway through the second period of the game, when Rangers center Sam Carrick checked the 30-year-old as he was skating out from behind the net to make an outlet pass. Lyubushkin returned to the bench under his own strength, but was clearly in discomfort on the bench. He didn’t skate another shift in the second period, and the Stars announced that he was doubtful to return just before the third.

Lyubushkin had just one giveaway on his stat sheet in 6:39 of ice time, as the Stars went on to come back from an early 3-0 deficit to beat the Rangers 5-4 in overtime.

With Lyubushkin only playing on the Stars’ bottom pair, he didn’t need to be replaced in the lineup when he left with his injury. Instead, his pairmate Brendan Smith was deployed as an extra option on the top two pairs, although he primarily played with Miro Heiskanen.

Lyubushkin has been having one of his more productive seasons with 8 assists in 39 games, which would put him on pace for a career-high of 16 points if he plays the full season. However, he’s struggled defensively with a 2.52 5v5 on-ice expected goals against per 60 minutes, which is the second-worst among Stars blueliners with 200 minutes this season.

Should Lyubushkin miss any more time, Matt Dumba was the Stars’ only healthy scratch on the blueline and will probably draw into the lineup for their next game on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Dumba has just 1 assist in 22 games this season.

The Stars will look to extend their seven-game point streak when they visit the Flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday at 6 p.m. CST. Dallas is currently in third place in the Central Division with a 25-13-1 record.

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