DALLAS — During the first intermission on Friday the Dallas Stars showed a video looking back at the franchise-altering trade for defenseman Sergei Zubov in 1996.
And Zubov is arguably the most important player in franchise history.
His arrival helped kick-off a championship era and his poise and vision with the puck helped turn the Stars into an elite team on the power play.
On Friday, John Klingberg pulled off his best Zubov impression as he scored and had two assists in a 5-0 win.
In the first period Klingberg had three points and helped the Stars jump out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.
On the opening goal Klingberg helped maintain a cycle during four-on-four play with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, he then finished off the shift with a give-and-go leading up to his fourth goal of the season.
Give. Go. Get. Goal. Here's a few looks at Klingberg's opening goal. pic.twitter.com/h4tStK56ka
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) November 11, 2017
Klingberg leads all NHL defensemen with 18 points in 16 games this season. During a three-game point streak he has seven points (one goal, six assists).
“Klinger you can see the confidence is growing. When you’re an offensive guy like him confidence is really important,” Stars forward Jason Spezza said. “More confidence you have it seems like almost the smarter you play and you just wait for the game to come to you. And he’s playing a lot of big minutes and he’s showing a lot of poise, and he’s really anchored things back there. You can see his game growing and getting more confident every day.”
His points were only a highlight of an overall performance.
“I think so, today I really felt like I was back in my first year,” Klingberg said. “Just played hockey, felt really good. The confidence is good right now, I feel like I have a really good gap right now and played good defensively.
Klingberg was a key part of a perfect penalty kill on Friday, and in the third period he showed off his skating ability when he went stride-for-stride with John Tavares and eliminated a potential scoring chance.
Spezza strikes, finally
Jason Spezza’s second period goal was his first of the season and ended a 15-game goalless drought, the longest of his NHL career.
“It’s nice to score a goal and contribute offensively,” Spezza said. “Obviously it’s been a long time, hopefully it’s something I can build off of.”
Spezza’s teammates were rather excited to see him finally break through.
“He’s a real big part of our team,” Klingberg said. “To see him score tonight was huge for us, probably even bigger for him. Really happy for him finally got the first one.”
Overall it was on of the better games for Spezza and Martin Hanzal, a pair of veterans that have struggled this season.
Hanzal picked up his first assist of the season in the first period, and he did a nice job setting a screen on Spezza’s power play tally.
Smith shines
Sometimes playing on the top-line can be the kiss of death for a young player.
It comes with higher expectations and increased pressure. Often times the player can be overwhelmed by the moment in an effort to adjust their game, they forget what made them successful before the promotion.
Gemel Smith didn’t get caught in that trap in his first-line debut on Friday.
“It was unreal,” Smith said. “It was a good feeling playing with that line, playing with two magicians. It was good for me and happy it worked out.”
Smith continued to play with pace, pressured the puck, and he consistently would come out of battles with possession. And when he needed to be calmed and composed, he delivered on a first-period goal that gave the Stars a 2-0 lead.
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