"I had a message ready that it's opening night, let's play on our toes, but I had to switch it because guys were actually pretty tight this morning," Montgomery said. "I told them that I thought I was going to be the nervous one this morning, not you guys. You guys have been through this a couple of times, except for a few of you. That was the message, just to try to loosen it up and focus on our process for tonight."

The regular season is finally here. The Dallas Stars open the 2018-19 season tonight when they take on the Arizona Coyotes at American Airlines Center. It will be the team's first game under head coach Jim Montgomery, who will be making his debut behind the bench in the NHL.

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Montgomery is the third coach in three seasons for the Stars, and he is hoping to find a balance between the ultra-aggressive style the Stars played under Lindy Ruff and the defensive-first style of Ken Hitchcock.

"I think we'll be relentless without the puck, and with the puck you are going to see a team that understands timing and space," Montgomery said. "Do I expect to see that Thursday night? I hope to, but I expect there to be ebbs and flows the first couple of weeks until we become a lot smoother together.

Video: Excitement surrounds Stars going into opening night

"When I say we are going to have ebbs and flows, I think it is going to be early, but once we get our habits and details down, I think we are going to become a really good hockey team in this league and a team to be reckoned with.

"It may not be in October, but it will be in the second half."

The Stars have had almost three weeks to soak in Montgomery's system, and they feel good about where they are heading into tonight's season opener.

"Monty's done a great job of explaining what he wants," said center Jason Spezza. "There are going to be scenarios that come up during the year that we are going to have to adjust to, and he'll teach us how he wants us to play them. But he's done a great job of getting everyone on the same page quickly and we are confident in what we're doing."

Bishop in goal, Honka the scratch on defense

Ben Bishop will get the start in goal tonight for the Stars.

There were no surprises among the forward group. The lines rolled out this morning were what have been used in practice this week. Tyler Seguin will center Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov on the top line and Jason Spezza will center the second line with Mattias Janmark and Blake Comeau. Devin Shore will play left wing on the third line with center Radek Faksa and right wing Tyler Pitlick.

Roope Hintz, who will make his NHL debut, centers the fourth line with Jason Dickinson and Brett Ritchie.

Gemel Smith is the lone healthy scratch at forward.

On defense, as expected, the top four are Esa Lindell-John Klingberg and Marc Methot-Miro Heiskanen. Heiskanen will be making his NHL debut.

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"Of course, it's a great feeling with your first game in the NHL," Heiskanen said. "It's a really good feeling. I've dreamed about playing in the NHL, and now it's true. It's a great feeling."

The third pair will be the recently acquired Connor Carrick and Roman Polak. Julius Honka will sit out tonight as a healthy scratch.

Montgomery explained the decision-making process of selecting the defense for tonight's game.

"We said that practice is going to decide who plays," Montgomery said. "We knew who the top four were; it was the bottom three, and the two who defended the best were going to be the two to go in today's game, and those two defended the best yesterday in practice."

Defenseman Stephen Johns, who is on injured reserve with post-traumatic headaches, skated with the team this morning. He is day to day. Also out with injury for the Stars are forward Valerin Nichushkin (lower body). Martin Hanzal is on injured reserve as he recovers from back surgery.

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Opposition watch: Arizona Coyotes

The Coyotes finished 29th in the NHL last season, but that record doesn't tell the whole story. They got off to a brutal start, losing their first 11 games (0-10-1) and winning just two games through the first quarter of the season (2-15-3). But they finished strong, posting a 17-9-3 from Feb. 8 to the end of the season, 11th best in the league during that stretch.

The Coyotes made some offseason moves, acquiring talented center Alex Galchenyuk from Montreal for forward Max Domi, and forward Vinnie Hinostroza in a deal with Chicago, and signing speedy free agent forward Michael Grabner, who has tallied 51 goals over the past two seasons. Galchenyuk, though, is out due to injury along with forward Christian Dvorak to start the season.

The Coyotes also will be without defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery.

In goal, Antti Raanta is the man for the Coyotes. His absence early last season due to injury was a huge blow for Arizona, but when he returned he performed superbly in his first season as a No. 1 netminder, posting a 21-17-6 record and ranking second in the NHL in both goals against average (2.24) and save percentage (.930).

Thursday's game will feature an Arizona team that wants to play with speed and a Stars team that is looking to push the pace as well. Stars coach Jim Montgomery started is pre-scout of the Coyotes last week.

"Speed, energy," Montgomery said. "It's a team that finished 17-9-3, so it's a dangerous team that is confident right now after their finish last year. I expect it to be pretty frenetic on opening night."

Video: Taking reins, Montgomery hopes to lead Stars to glory

Things to know

This is the first of three meetings between the Stars and Coyotes this season.

The Stars were 3-0-0 against Arizona last season.

The Stars have won seven straight games against the Coyotes, outscoring them 27-13.

The Stars have won 10 straight games against Arizona at American Airlines Center.

The Stars are 16-4-4 in home openers since the team moved to Dallas in 1993.

Tonight's game

Who: Arizona Coyotes at Dallas Stars

Where: American Airlines Center

When: 7:30 p.m.

TV: Fox Sports Southwest

Radio: The Ticket 1310 AM/96.7 FM

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov

Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Blake Comeau

Devin Shore - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick

Jason Dickinson - Roope Hintz - Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell - John Klingberg

Marc Methot - Miro Heiskanen

Connor Carrick - Roman Polak

Ben Bishop

Anton Khudobin

Scratched: Julius Honka, Gemel Smith

Injured: Valeri Nichushkin (lower body), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)

Coyotes projected lineup

Richard Panik - Derek Stepan - Christian Fischer

Brendan Perlini - Clayton Keller - Vinnie Hinostroza

Lawson Crouse - Dylan Strome - Laurent Dauphin

Michael Grabner - Brad Richardson - Nick Cousins

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jason Demers

Kevin Connauton- Niklas Hjalmarsson

Alex Goligoski - Jordan Oesterle

Antti Raanta

Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: Mario Kempe, Ilya, Lyubushkin, Barrett Hayton

Injured: Jakob Chychrun (knee), Alex Galchenyuk (lower body), Christian Dvorak (lower body), Josh Archibald (lower body)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.