Jamie Benn moving back to center as Stars try to establish "one-two punch"

FRISCO, Texas — Jamie Benn will be re-cast as a center when the Dallas Stars host the New York Islanders on Friday.

Throughout the season Benn has been playing on a line with Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov, and that group has been amongst the most dangerous top lines in the NHL.

Unfortunately for the Stars, the rest of the lineup is struggling to generate much of anything offensively. So coach Ken Hitchcock is trying to generate more of a one-two punch with Benn centering Gemel Smith and Radulov, while Seguin was centering Mattias Janmark and Devin Shore.

“I like the one-two punch,” Hitchcock said. “It looks like we’ve got real potential here, we’ve just got to keep it going. But I like what I see, but any time you’ve got size and speed through the middle of the ice that’s a good, thing and that’s what we’ve got. It seems like all the teams have a one-two punch going right now, and that’s what we want to establish.”

Earlier in his career the Stars experimenting with moving Benn to center, but ultimately moved him back to a full-time winger. Benn does frequently take face-offs on his strong side, so it shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment for the Stars’ captain.

This is going to be a big opportunity for Smith, who has impressed recently in limited minutes. The Stars don’t want him to forgot the play that helped him earn his opportunity.

“I think sometimes when you get a younger player playing with a veteran player, they defer,” Hitchcock said. “They move the puck, they don’t want to shoot on a 2-on-1, they want to pass off. And I think we just want him to do what he’s done to allow us to continue to play him on a daily basis, that’s what we want to get. We want to get him really focused on playing his game. Jamie’s talked to him and Rads has talked to him. He’s excited. I think any player would look at this as an unreal opportunity.”

On Thursday the third line featured Martin Hanzal centering Remi Elie and Jason Spezza.

The fourth line is still up in the air, especially with Brett Ritchie, Tyler Pitlick, and Radek Faksa all still dealing with injuries.

Hitchcock said each of those player would take part in the morning skate, but a call-up (likely Curtis McKenzie or Brian Flynn) is a real possibility.

Methot doubtful

Marc Methot didn’t practice for the second straight game with a lower-body injury.

“Well, he’s day-to-day like these other guys have been,” Hitchcock said. “Day-to-day can turn to week-to-week, I can’t really tell you right now, but it’s not long term.”

If Methot can’t play, which seems likely, Jamie Oleksiak will likely re-enter the lineup as a defender and play with Stephen Johns.

Bishop in goal

The original plan was for Kari Lehtonen to start in goal against the New York Islanders, but after he missed practice on Wednesday due to to illness the Stars will give Ben Bishop the start on Friday.

“No, I’m going to go with Bish. One practice is not enough. It’s too bad,” Hitchcock said. “That was kind of the schedule we were going to work on, but having only one skate in I don’t think is fair. He was OK today. He felt OK today. We’ve got lots of games next week, so he’ll get in one or two of those.”

Stars practice lines

Gemel Smith – Jamie Benn – Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark – Tyler Seguin – Devin Shore
Remi Elie – Martin Hanzal – Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel- Jason Dickinson- Tyler Pitlick/Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak – Stephen Johns
Dan Hamhuis – Greg Pateryn