Bowness said he too liked the chemistry of the line. Pavelski is a smart veteran and Robertson is an intelligent second-year player.
"What they're really good at is reading off of Roope," Bowness said. "You saw Pavs tonight finding him coming through the middle a lot."
And when that happens, the line is very effective. Asked if he believes that his line can play against the opposition's best players, Robertson said sure.
"The best defense against a top line is hemming them in their zone, right?" Robertson said. "Roope is so fast and so quick, and Joe knows where you are always on the ice. It helps having two centermen on your line who can play low and manage all of that and are interchangeable, so it's definitely an advantage. If that's what Bones wants us to do, we'll take that head on."
Pavelski had two assists, fired six shots on goal and won five of six faceoffs. He said in the morning he believes the chemistry will come back quickly.
"I think you definitely pick up where you left off in a lot of areas, but the process of getting back is understanding it didn't come easy," Pavelski said. "There was a lot of hard work that was put in, a lot of nights where you have to compete to earn your goal or your points. The process for us getting there is making sure we're hard enough on battles, on loose pucks."
And, yeah, fight through whatever pain might come up.
"It feels good," Hintz said before the game. "Then, of course, I need to get a game before we start the season, so I can see how it is and everybody can see how it is."
Right now, the consensus is the future looks bright.
"He's got great speed, he's a big body, very skilled," said defenseman Ryan Suter, who's joining the Stars this season and seeing Hintz up close for the first time. "You don't realize how skilled some of these guys are until you practice with him. Just seeing them handle the puck and seeing how they carry themselves on the ice every day, it's very eye opening."
So eye opening that Hintz might be the key to a lot of the team's defensive strategy this season.
"He can play against (Connor) McDavid, he can play against (Sidney) Crosby, he can play against anybody," Bowness said. "Defensively, he's very smart and he's very reliable, and he's big and fast and strong enough to get back. I have no problem running him against anybody."