MONTREAL -- Dallas captain Brenden Morrow suffered an early scare, but the Stars still managed to kick off the pre-season with a win.
Morrow, Adam Pardy and Michael Ryder scored in the first period as the Stars downed the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 in the opening pre-season game for both clubs Tuesday night.
Morrow left midway through the third period with a sore knee.
"I had a little tweak and I figured I'd better give it a little break before it got any worse," said Morrow. "It was more a precaution than anything. It's day to day.
"Tonight we felt good. We had good speed, created some turnovers and got some pucks to the net."
Krys Barch also beat Carey Price while Mike Ribeiro and Matt Fraser added goals against newcomer Nathan Lawson. Price allowed four goals on 13 shots.
Erik Cole, Andrei Kostitsyn and Jeff Woywitka scored for Montreal.
"We had the puck in their zone a couple of minutes and when it went in it was awesome," said Woywitka, a former Star, after his first home game as a Canadien.
The Stars outshot Montreal 25-19 overall.
A year ago, Price told booing Bell Centre fans to "chill out" a day after he allowed three goals on eight shots in the pre-season opener against Boston. There were scattered boos again this time, but nothing like a year ago amid debate on whether the club should have kept goalie Jaroslav Halak.
Price was not available to the media after the game.
Andrew Raycroft started for Dallas and let in 3-of-11 shots. Tyler Beskorowany took over in the second frame and stopped all eight shots.
It was a first game since more flexible boards and glass were installed at the Bell Centre to improve safety. Michael Cammalleri said the glass seemed "dead" when it was hit by pucks, but approved of the changes.
"The unconscious effect is that it gives you confidence to stay with a play longer," he said. "You can take a hit to make a play (without fear of injury)."
Each club had a minimum of NHL regulars in its lineup, with free agent signing Ryder, Ribeiro and Brendan Morrow on a line for Dallas and Cole, Tomas Plekanec and Cammalleri for Montreal.
The Canadiens began a string of six exhibitions in seven nights. They play host to Buffalo on Wednesday. Dallas, which had training camp in Charlottetown, returns home to face Colorado on Thursday.
