Defensemen stepping up as rest of Stars get their game going

During the four-month break the NHL had after their "Pause" in March, Stars interim coach Rick Bowness had a lot of time to think.
The man who took over for Jim Montgomery in December after Montgomery was fired had his first chance to really reassess how his team played and why it was 26th in the league in scoring. So, he got together with the rest of the coaching staff and concocted a plan in which the defensemen would be more active in order to help create offensive zone time possession.

The forwards would help support the D, and the D would have a green light to go when they read the play properly. It was risky for a team that had lived on defense all season, ranking second in the NHL in goals against average, but Bowness thought it was necessary.
Fast forward a month into Return to Play, the decision has been a rousing success. After scoring just seven goals in four games (1.75 per game) while going 1-3-0 to start the playoffs, Dallas now has 24 goals in five games (4.0 per game) while going 5-1 in the past six games.
Bowness said it has been teamwork with the forward and defensemen.
"We're happy where we are, creating the chances for," Bowness said. "We've been very pleased with that from Day 1. The O-zone time is up, everything we've worked since training camp on is up."
A big key to that has been the work of the top defensemen. When Stephen Johns received an apparent injury and was put in the "unfit to play" category the NHL uses to describe all ailments, it put some pressure on the top four blueliners. They have stepped up, and are now leading the team.

Miro Heiskanen is the team's leading scorer with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 10 games and also leads the team in time on ice at 26:03. John Klingberg is third in scoring on the Stars with eight points (one goal, seven assists) and is third at 24:07. Jamie Oleksiak has been a pleasant surprise with two goals and two assists in 21:36 time on ice. He also leads the team in plus-minus at plus-9. And Esa Lindell has been a workhorse, logging 24:45 in ice time and leading the team with 25 blocked shots.
"They've all raised their game to another level," Bowness said. "The team is built around those guys. A kid like Miro is taking his game to another level. John Klingberg has been very reliable, very consistent, competing hard. We know what Esa is going to do, he's going to go and battle every shift. And Big Rig, he's played great for us all year. Are we surprised by that, No. Are we very happy to another level? Yes, that's great."
Heiskanen has been the driving force. The 21-year-old who was taken third overall in 2017, has been the team's most consistent player in the postseason. He carries the puck with calm and also anticipates plays and reads the opposition very well.
"He's very mature and he just understands the game," assistant coach John Stevens said. "He has terrific hockey sense."
In the Stars' comeback win against Calgary in Game 6, Heiskanen had a spectacular play that stopped the bleeding with the Stars down 3-0. Bowness said it was the kind of play that changes a game.
"Tonight, as a coach, you need someone on your bench to step up and say 'OK, jump on my back. I'm going to get this thing turned around,'" Bowness said. "Miro did that. He got that big power play goal for us, and he settled things down. You could see early in the game, we couldn't make a pass, couldn't make a five-foot pass. All of a sudden, Miro just took the game over. He's an exceptional player. He's an exceptional person. He does have Norris Trophy written all over him."
Heiskanen said he just reads the game, and he shows that kind of simple decision-making at even the most pressure-filled moments. But by doing so, he has rubbed off on his new partner Oleksiak. The 27-year-old was a first-round pick (14th overall) for the Stars in 2011. He struggled to become a consistent performer and was traded to Pittsburgh in 2017. After some strong games with the Penguins, Oleksiak was traded back to the Stars in 2019.

Bowness said before the 2019-20 season he asked Oleksiak to convince the coaches that he shouldn't ever be a healthy scratch, and he made that wish come true.
"That was important," Stevens said. "That wasn't even a consideration this year, and I think that was big for his confidence."
Bowness added Oleksiak has gone from a support player to an impact player.
"He's a dominant, dominant player for us," Bowness said. "He's a huge part of this team, as he has been all year. It's great to see him rewarded."
Stevens said he has also been impressed with the improvements by Klingberg and Lindell during the change in strategy, and added that the entire group has done a great job meshing with the forwards.
As a result, the Stars feel like they are a lot more dangerous than they were during the regular season.
"We've rode some stellar play from a lot of our guys who log a lot of minutes on the back end," said Taylor Fedun, who jumped in with Stephen Johns injured and has been paired with Andrej Sekera on the third pair. "They've really stepped up and carried the loud and allowed me and Reggie to settle in and eat up some minutes when we can. Those top four guys have done an incredible job of lugging the mail back there."

Game 2: Stars vs. Avalanche (Dallas leads 1-0)

Monday, 8:45 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV:NBCSN
Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
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, and listen to his podcast.