DALLAS — Ken Hitchcock is a notorious line juggler.
He even admitted that after a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
“I just have to treat every game individually,” Hitchcock said. “I’m not looking for long-term chemistry.”
But if Hitchcock did want to look into longer-term combinations, he may have stumbled upon an ideal situation for Tyler Seguin in the second period.
After starting the season playing with Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov — arguably one of the most dynamic lines in the NHL — the Stars split up the supergroup and moved Seguin to his own line to generate better depth scoring.
For the first four games it generated more frustration than chances for Seguin. At five-on-five he only had one assist and was minus-6 while rotating through a group of wingers that failed to put the puck in the net.
That changed Tuesday.
Jason Spezza replaced Brett Ritchie on Seguin’s right wing, creating a trio with Devin Shore that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead late in the second period.
“That line looked good today,” Hitchcock said. “It looked like it had some good chemistry.”
Shore scored at 18:22 of the period, converting on the rush after a pass from John Klingberg. Fifty-nine seconds later Spezza scored on a rebound after Seguin took an initial shot.
“Well Seggy’s a shooter, I’m a passer, and Shoresy has good legs,” Spezza said. “So it kind of gives us all three dynamics and we did a good job of using each other, we had some good cycle shifts and we got rewarded for it.”
Something was brewing with the line even before Shore scored.
Midway through the period all the players had chances in tight, starting with a backhand by Seguin, and Dallas likely would have scored if Canadiens’ goalie Charlie Lindgren didn’t make a pair of spectacular saves.
“Sometimes the game kinds of goes in waves like that,” Spezza said. “We’ve seen it against us, when you’re offensive players you get a few shifts in a row and you kind of get rolling a bit.”
Shore said it’s easy to play with Seguin and Spezza, and the line added a third goal late when Seguin scored into an empty net.
“I think the puck possession was good. Guys were hanging on to it and we were winning the loose pucks and guys were supporting each other,” Shore said. “When you’re winning loose pucks and guys are supporting each other you kind of notice you have more time to make plays.”
It’s something to keep an eye when the Stars complete a back-to-back on Thursday.
Quick turnaround
The Stars had an 11:30 flight from Dallas to Denver on Tuesday and there will be a quick turnaround on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche.
“It’s a four-point game tomorrow, it’s a division game,” Hitchcock said. “I don’t look at it road or home, we’ve got to win division games if we want to be a playoff team. We’ve got a rested opponent. An opponent who’s been sitting home for the last four days and that’s going to be a significant challenge for us. We’re going to have to go in there and play well. We played very well our last time in there and we’re going to have to follow it up with a similar effort.”
The players said they are hoping to carry over the momentum from Tuesday’s win.
“Well, maybe this will be a better thing from us with leaving late from home the night before,” Ben Bishop said. “It’s a big two points and a division game. They are playing well and they’ve won some games of late, so we have to be on our game. We want to get there as quick as we can and try to come home with another two points.”
Birthday Boys
Ben Bishop and Antoine Roussel each celebrated a birthday on Tuesday. Bishop, who turned 31, stopped 29 shots for his ninth win of the season.
Roussel turned 28 and had 23 shifts for 15 minutes, 34 seconds of ice time. He started the game on the top line, but finished the game with Radek Faksa and Tyler Pitlick after the Stars juggled lines.
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