Alexander Radulov filling leadership role with his play and emotion for Stars

DALLAS — Even empty net goals get Alexander Radulov excited.

On Friday when he won a race to a loose puck and scored into the empty net to make it 4-2 he gave the stick a twirl, dropped to one knee, and celebrated just as much as he did when he scored what proved to the game-winning goal on the power play 42 seconds earlier.

“It’s fun to play with a guy like that,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “Someone we can always talk about and laugh at or laugh with. I love seeing the stick twirls. Made a great shot and he’s an emotional player and that’s what we need in here.”

“That’s a big goal obviously. He plays with a lot of emotion,” Stars goalie Ben Bishop said. “He’s one of our hardest working guys out there so he wears his emotions on his sleeve and I think it’s fun watch, fans love it and good for him. He should be happy he scored a goal.”

Nearing the halfway point of the season, it was game No. 40, Radulov has embraced a leadership role in his first season in Dallas. He’s one of the alternate captains, take responsibility for losses — even ones that aren’t his fault — and the results are a far cry from the bad reputation that some tried to spread about him after his earlier NHL career in Nashville.

“It means a lot, I really like enjoying to be part of the Dallas and thankful for the people who brought me here and work hard, and I just have to be there every night for my teammates,” Radulov said.

For the most part he’s done that on a nightly basis with his effort, it’s almost impossible to out work him, and he came through with timely scoring against a divisional opponent — something that hasn’t been a strong suit for Dallas this season (Dallas was 1-6-0 in games against the top-three teams in the Central heading into Friday).

“He’s a big-game player, and he’s a big-time player,” Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. “So he’s not afraid of the stage, he’s not afraid of the time, he’s not afraid of the time on the clock, and he wants to be the guy. And he was tonight. That’s what we needed. We flipped that (Benn-Tyler Seguin-Radulov) line together towards the end of the game and they responded in the right way, which is a real good sign.”

And on Friday it helped the Stars pull back within striking distance of the Central Division leaders.

Earlier this month the Stars were trailing the Blues by 12 points. After Friday’s win they were within three points of third place with a game in hand on the Blues.

“Hitch let us know we’re right there with a game in hand (before the game),” Radulov said. “And we knew it would be huge for us, we knew that they’d been losing in a stretch, but it’s all about us and winning together and confidence back.”