Opportunity hasn't knocked on Brett Ritchie's door often in the first two months of the season. Incapacitated by an infection that sidelined him, and then relegated him to the press box as a healthy scratch in the last two weeks, Ritchie has spent half of the season as a spectator.
On Monday night, during the Stars' 4-1 win over the Oilers, he was given a chance to re-enter the lineup. Ritchie responded with a goal and assist, his first multi-point game in exactly a year, helping to ease the sting of repeated scratches.
Ritchie helped set up the Stars' first goal of the night, when he carried into the offensive zone, stopped to set up Mattias Janmark for a broken-stick assist to Jason Dickinson on the doorstep.