The Dallas Stars will break up their top line of left wing Jason Robertson, center Roope Hintz and right wing Joe Pavelski when they play the Calgary Flames in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.
Michael Raffl will join Hintz and Pavelski. Robertson moves to the second line with center Jamie Benn and right wing Tyler Seguin.
"Raffl] has been playing great hockey for us and he hangs onto the puck," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "You watch him, possession time at the end of the game, he's always our top forward. So he does a really good job on the forecheck, he's very reliable defensively and he will hang onto pucks and hopefully get Roope and 'Pav' the puck a little bit more."
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Robertson (41 goals, 38 assists), Hintz (37 goals, 35 assists) and Pavelski (27 goals, 54 assists) have played together the majority of the past two seasons and combined for 232 points (105 goals, 127 assists) during the regular season. Pavelski has scored four points (three goals, one assist) in four games, Hintz has scored two points (one goal, one assist), but his goal was into an empty net with one second remaining in a 4-2 win against the Flames in Game 3. Robertson has one assist in the series.
The Flames played their best game in Game 4, getting 54 shots on goal and improving their offensive-zone time to defeat the Stars 4-1.
"We got the first goal, which was big, and then we were pushing trying to get the second one and took to the early part of the third period, then got the third and rolled from there," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "[Playing more 5-on-5], it helps a lot. We played a lot more in the [offensive] zone. We were shooting pucks. We had more guys to the net. But we can still be a lot better with that."
Teams that win Game 5 when a series is tied 2-2 are 219-58 (.791), including 6-0 in the 2021 playoffs.
Here are 3 keys to Game 5: