Rising up: Faksa's hot start to the season is an encouraging sign

Stars (1-2-0, 2 points) at Penguins (2-0-1, 5 points)

PITTSBURGH --As the Stars head into Game 4 of the regular season, they still are uncertain of the combinations with their forward lines. Part of that is because of injuries to Jason Robertson and Blake Comeau, and part of it is because they simply haven't been able to find smooth chemistry yet.
Coach Rick Bowness looks like he'll stick with some of the lines that he liked in the third period Sunday against Ottawa, placing Joe Pavelski on a line with Radek Faksa and Michael Raffl, moving Joel Kiviranta onto a line with Roope Hintz and Jacob Peterson, and combining Tanner Kero with Luke Glendening and Denis Gurianov.
"We put Pav back with Faksy and Raffl the other night and that was our best line, so we'll keep that together," Bowness said. "We've got to get Roope going a little bit. Kivy the other night was flying and led the game in hits, so we're just trying to jump start some offense."

The Stars have six goals in their first three games, and only one from their top players. That's one of the reasons for all the shuffling. Still, Bowness is sticking with the top line of Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin-Alexander Radulov even though they've struggled.
"They're only a couple of games in, let's not overreact," Bowness said. "They had some good chances last game, so let's not overreact and break it up too quickly."
Benn played center on the third line with Gurianov at training camp, but Bowness hasn't tried that route yet. As for Gurianov, who hasn't been able to find a consistent spot, Bowness said the 24-year-old is still searching for his game.
"It's just things we're trying to get him to do more consistency - use his speed down the wing," said Bowness. "When he's cutting in the middle and he's overhandling the puck, he's not using his speed. So, there's habits he's gotten into that we're trying to break and make him a better 200-foot player. There's a lot of unnecessary motion that takes him out of his game, and we're trying to get him to calm down a little bit and play his wing a little bit more."
Asked if he considers playing Gurianov more with either Seguin or Hintz, Bowness said it's been discussed.
"We'll see," he said. "We're only three games into it. Is there a chance he ends up there? He's played shifts with both of those guys and nothing happened. He'll see ice time back with them. Last game in the third period, he played with Roope quite a bit. I think it was the Rangers game, we had him up with Seguin."

What to watch

While the top players have been struggling, the role players seem to be buzzing. Faksa leads the Stars with three points so far, while Raffl and Glendening each have a goal.
Also impressive has been Kero, who has been a nice catalyst while playing 10:13 a game. Kero looked like the team's 14th forward in training camp but has jumped in and played well.
"He's making the most of the ice time he's getting," Bowness said. "Tanner is a very intelligent player."
Bowness said Kero is easy to use. If he's playing right wing, he's fine. If he's playing center, he's fine. If he sits for three games, he's fine.
"He's like Joel Hanley," Bowness said. "When you have hockey sense like they have, you can adapt."
Kero, 29, played four seasons in the Blackhawks organization, but spent most of his time from 2017-2020 in the minors. He said he embraces the chance to stay in the NHL with the Stars.
"I think at this point in your career, you never know what your role might be going into each game, so you just have to always be ready to be called upon," he said.

Kero said he wants to continue to add whatever energy he can no matter what line he's on.
"I feel like our line has been skating well the last couple games, and that's our biggest strength, just getting in on the forecheck and disrupt their play as much as we can and bring some energy to the group," he said.
Faksa meanwhile is playing healthy after nursing injuries last season and is getting 17:53 a game in ice time.
"Great start," Bowness said. "He's doing a great job on both ends of the ice. I love his game."

Lineup updates

John Klingberg will miss his third game after suffering a lower-body injury in the season opener. He hasn't skated since getting his leg twisted against the Rangers.
Comeau and Robertson remain in Texas with upper-body injuries. They haven't played this season. Bowness said the team will have a day off on Wednesday and then will assess the injured players at practice Thursday before the home opener on Friday.
"We're hoping for Friday," Bowness said. "We'll know more when we get back."
Braden Holtby will be in goal. This will be his third start on the season. Holtby, who left the game against the Rangers with dehydration, is 0-1-0 with a 2.26 GAA and .939 save percentage.

Numbers

.667

The Penguins have gone 33-15-7 (.667) in games played without both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who are out tonight.

Minus-15

Raffl, who played a good deal with the Flyers, is minus-15 in 29 games against the Penguins in his career. But he's not alone. Ryan Suter is minus-9 in 19 games, Radulov is minus-5 in 11 games, and even Miro Heiskanen is minus-6 in four games against the Penguins.

53.1 percent

Dallas ranks eighth in faceoff winning percentage at 53.1 percent. Pittsburgh is 24th at 47.2 percent.

He said it

"He works so hard, he's hard on the forecheck, he comes back hard and plays well defensively. I try to play similar, so it's easy to feed off his energy and work ethic and learn from that as much as possible." -- Kero on playing beside Glendening for much of the early season.
Be there when Texas Hockey comes home this Friday as the Stars face the Los Angeles Kings at American Airlines Center! The festivities begin with Party on PNC Plaza at 5:30 p.m. and all fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 7 p.m. Don't miss out, get your tickets now!
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.