DALLAS — You can’t call it a fourth line.
While the trio of Antoine Roussel, Radek Faksa, and Tyler Pitlick may have the least name recognition on the Dallas Stars, looking at the line as lesser than others is a fallacy.
They continued to prove that in a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday as Tyler Pitlick scored twice, and the line now has goals in three straight games.
“I mean we don’t do a whole lot special,” Pitlick said. “We play the game hard, we get the puck deep and get physical and just grind it out down low. Starting to make more plays and started to get rewarded for our hard work.”
Both of Pitlick’s goals exemplified that.
His first goal was reminiscent of Bobby Orr’s iconic goal that won the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup, as he dove and was sent flying after poking home a rebound.
The second goal Roussel did the heavy lifting and created the chance with an aggressive forecheck, while Pitlick did the smart thing and went to the net.
Goals were just the highlights of a complete performance for the line, which had maximum impact in roughly 11 minutes of ice and Ken Hitchcock said it was the best line on either team.
Postgame thoughts
Line juggling
Midway through the first period Ken Hitchcock juggled lines and put Jason Spezza on a line with Martin Hanzal and Remie Elie, while Brett Ritchie was moved to a unit with Mattias Janmark and Devin Shore.
It had mixed results.
The Janmark like was the least effective offensive unit, especially with Brett Ritchie still trying to break out of an offensive funk. The Hanzal line was plodding, but methodical and likely would have been more successful if Elie and Hanzal hadn’t taken penalties late in the game.
Essentially the Stars have reached a spot where the middle-six are a tweak or two away from being worked out. The top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov are in good shape. So is the Faksa line, as discussed before, now the Stars are looking for more consistent play from the so-called middle line.
Bishop comes through, again
Ben Bishop made 36 saves and was a calming force on the penalty kill when Carolina was pushing for a late goal.
“He’s been outstanding for us this year. He gives the team a lot of confidence with how he plays,” Dan Hamhuis said. “He’s a real competitor, and I think the thing people don’t know is how much he talks. He talks a ton out there helping the D-man, he’s another set of eyes and a mouth out there that’s letting us what to do, and then of course his ability to play the puck is like having a sixth players.”
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New head gear
The Stars player of the game now gets this:
Tyler Pitlick's postgame head gear pic.twitter.com/uBGPwG8UTp
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) October 22, 2017
Pitlick considered doing his post-game interview with the helmet on, but decided it would have been too hard to hear the questions.
I asked Hitchcock about it after the game, and he didn’t have much of a backstory. He said he thinks it’s something that the players worked out with a military group. I’ll make sure to ask players for more clarification on Monday.
Fire alarm
There was a fire alarm during Hitchcock’s post-game presser. We proceeded like nothing was happening, but it was difficult to hear some of his answer with the alarm blaring.
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