Gavin Bayreuther didn’t have his A-game Saturday night in Tulsa, and that’s OK.



The neutral site preseason game with the Florida Panthers was partially designed as a test for the 24-year-old defender. He and his defensive partner Julius Honka were the only Dallas Stars to play in three preseason games over the course of five days. The practices on the days in-between haven’t exactly been easy, and two of those games have come with travel from Dallas to either Minnesota or Oklahoma on the day of the game.



To top it all off, Stars coach Jim Montgomery intentionally rolled out Bayreuther and Honka as the top pair against the Panthers, giving them big minutes to see how they responded to the heavy NHL workload.



“You know what? He wasn’t as good offensively as he was in Minnesota, he’s tired and Honka’s tired, but he really managed the game well,” Montgomery told The Athletic after a 4-3 overtime loss. “He...