Lightning’s Ryan McDonagh returns to lineup vs. Dallas Stars

TAMPA — After blocking a puck against the Flames on Jan. 6 and missing the next three games, defenseman Ryan McDonagh returned to the lineup tonight against the Dallas Stars. He skated in a pairing with blueliner Zach Bogosian.

In the third period against Calgary, McDonagh stood in the way of Rasmus Andersson’s shot, which was flying toward goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on the Flames’ power play. McDonagh took the puck off the lower part of his right leg.

Also out with lower-body injuries: Forward Ondrej Palat missed his third straight game, while defenseman Erik Cernak is out after blocking a shot in the third period against the Canucks on Thursday.

Entering tonight, McDonagh had played in 36 games, logging two goals and 11 assists. He has also logged the second-highest time on ice — not counting Vasilevskiy — per game (22:38) behind Victor Hedman (25:01).

Here are the pre-game lines from warmups:

Forwards:

Corey Perry-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov

Alex Killorn-Anthony Cirelli-Steven Stamkos

Pat Maroon-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Mathieu Joseph

Boris Katchouk-Ross Colton-Taylor Raddysh

Defensemen:

Hedman-Jan Rutta

McDonagh-Bogosian

Mikhail Sergachev-Cal Foote

Goaltenders:

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Brian Elliott

Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.

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