First Shift: With series tied, Stars look to keep pushing in Game 5

You can say the regular season doesn’t matter once you hit the playoffs.

Lower seeds upset higher seeds all of the time, head-to-head matchup results from the regular season seem meaningless, and road teams often play much better than home teams, negating whatever home ice the higher seeds worked hard to clinch.

But what the Stars did learn in posting the best record in the Western Conference over 82 games was chemistry and muscle memory. Stars coach Pete DeBoer relied heavily on consistent line combinations throughout the year, and a relatively healthy roster helped foster that sort of repetition. So in Game 4 when the head coach wanted to go back to his “old” lines, it worked out very well.

DeBoer has juggled lines to start the playoffs, shuffling not only combinations but positions for key players. Wyatt Johnston went from center to wing. Tyler Seguin went from wing to center. There was some serious adjustment. But when Dallas dominated the first 30 minutes of Game 3, all of it made sense. The Stars took a 3-2 win in overtime and dominated the stat sheet. Dallas had a 46-34 advantage in shots on goal, a 108-69 edge in shot attempts, and twice as many quality scoring chances.

But as it so often happens in these seven-game series, the opposition adjusted. Vegas was significantly better on the numbers in Game 4, getting a 34-32 edge in shots on goal and an 83-68 advantage in shot attempts. Scoring chances were pretty much even. So as Game 4 went on, DeBoer decided he wanted to get back to some old combinations.

Joe Pavelski, who had been moved off the top line, was reunited with Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson – one of the league’s best lines for the past three seasons. Johnston came off the right wing on the Hintz line and centered Jamie Benn and Logan Stankoven. Seguin went to the right wing with Matt Duchene and Evgenii Dadonov. And it all fell together pretty easily.

DeBoer said he had great confidence in putting the old lines together.

“That’s exactly the thought process,” DeBoer said. “I think we’ve got some combinations that we have a lot of confidence in that have played together for a long time. When we got down [in the series], we tried to jump start the lineup by shuffling things around, and then when that went stale, which I thought it did early in the second period, we went back to those familiar combinations. And I thought guys all delivered.”

DeBoer said he will discuss line changes with his assistant coaches before and after games, but that it’s on him to tweak things during the game.

“Sometimes, it’s just a gut feeling,” he said. “You think your team has gone a little stale so you want to make a change. We didn’t really have time to discuss, it was after they scored their second goal and I just felt it was time to make a change and get back to some familiar units.”

As they head to Game 5 at home on Wednesday, there still are opportunities for more juggling. Radek Faksa and Mason Marchment sustained injuries in Game 2 and DeBoer swapped in Craig Smith and Ty Dellandrea. Both have played well. The front office called up AHL MVP Mavrik Bourque, and he has been practicing with the team, but was a healthy scratch in Games 3 and 4. After two wins, is it best to stick with the current lineup or could it change again?

One clue is that the line he didn’t alter in Game 4 was the fourth line. He left Smith, Dellandrea and Sam Steel alone, and they were one of the most impactful combinations on the ice. DeBoer said he felt Vegas had an advantage with its fourth line last season when it won a six-game series in the Western Conference Final, but that the Stars’ fourth line is playing a similar role this year.

“When I look at last year’s series with Vegas, that’s probably been the biggest difference,” DeBoer said. “I thought their fourth line dominated the series last year. I think our fourth line has been tilting the ice every time they’re out there [this year]. It’s been a huge equalizer compared to a year ago.”

Key Numbers

.850
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger has a 1.77 GAA and .941 save percentage on the road in this series and a 3.10 GAA and .850 save percentage at home. 

18
Stars forward Wyatt Johnston has 18 shots on goal so far in four games this series. Jason Robertson is second on the Stars with 12 shots on goal.

28:35
Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen ranks second in the playoffs in average time on ice per game at 28:35.

He Said It

“I think we’re all excited to sleep in our beds and play in front of our home crowd. I think the rink will be jumping, it will be electric, and we’re going to need it. It’s two out of three and two of the games are in our building.”

- Stars coach Pete DeBoer on the Stars playing at home on Wednesday in a series where the road team has won every game

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.