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Stars again scratch Nichushkin, who needs to ‘get his head in the right place’

Craig Anderson

Craig Anderson

AP

Make it two straight healthy scratches for Valeri Nichushkin.

Nichushkin, who was dropped from the lineup for Tuesday’s win over Edmonton, will sit again tonight when the Stars take on Tampa Bay at Amalie.

“I want to get him back in, I want to get him playing,” Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff explained, per the team website. “But I think I have to get his head in the right place first.”

Nichushkin landed in Ruff’s doghouse after a poor outing in Saturday’s loss to Colorado. The young Russian forward barely played in the latter half of the contest and Ruff was fuming afterward, calling the sloppy 6-3 defeat “embarrassing, worse than disappointing.”

It didn’t take a genius to realize one of the players that drew Ruff’s ire was Nichushkin, who had just 2:02 of ice time in the second period and 3:24 in the third.