'I'll take Peterson for $1,000, please'

BOSTON -- I'm a big fan of Jeopardy!
The classic game show definitely requires intelligence, but it's much more nuanced than that. You have to be quick on the buzzer, you have to have a wide range of knowledge, you have to be able to read the game and place smart bets, you have to be a little lucky at times. It's an intriguing battle that has a lot of levels of understanding.

I think Jacob Peterson would be good at Jeopardy!
The Stars rookie clearly has "hockey sense," in that he reads the game well and understands puck movement and angles and the respective strengths of his linemates. But it goes deeper than that. The 22-year-old from Sweden has been able to transfer his game from a rink that is much wider and he hasn't missed a beat.
Peterson stepped into the NHL on Thursday and scored a beautiful goal to help the Stars take a 3-2 OT win against the New York Rangers.
"He played tonight like he's played all of training camp - very smart, very poised and confident with the puck," Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. "I really liked his game, but we've liked him every day since training camp. He's a good player."
But it really is more than that. Peterson came over this summer to start his career in North America and had to feel he would be living in Cedar Park and playing for the Texas Stars, but he took one practice at a time and found a way to impress the coaches. That's what management always says about young players: "Find a way to force us to put you in the lineup."
He did just that.
And then, boom, he was skating out onto the Madison Square Garden ice for his rookie lap all by himself. Even in Sweden, Peterson knew the aura of the self-proclaimed "World's Most Famous Arena," and there had to be a tinge of butterflies as he looked up at the unique roof and the massive scoreboard to take his first stride.
But instead of fear, he thought it was fun.
"I always heard about Madison Square Garden since I was a kid and knew what that was," Peterson said before the game. "Of course, it's a great feeling to do it in this arena when I knew it since I was a little kid. That's a plus to it too."
And yet, as soon as the puck dropped, he was a veteran. He didn't look out of place on a line with Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski. He made smart plays, he read the Rangers, and he read his teammates.
"I was never worried about him," Pavelski said.
While the Stars were in control for much of the first period, they couldn't get that all-important first goal. Igor Shesterkin made some solid saves for the Rangers, and Dallas players simply didn't convert when they had some great chances. That's been an issue for this team in recent seasons.
Dallas was ninth in even-strength scoring chances last season, but 24th in even-strength goals, so finding the right touch has been a challenge. But like a skilled Jeopardy! player, Peterson read the board, made a quick decision, and cleaned up on the daily double. He saw a Rangers miscue sitting in the neutral zone and swooped in and picked up the puck. Instead of trying to force the play along the boards or dump the puck in, he swerved to the center of the ice. That allowed him an open path to the net, and once he got there, he deftly lifted a backhand shot past Shesterkin to give Dallas the first goal of the season.

The entire montage was impressive, and it really put on display all the little things Peterson can do.
"He has so much confidence," Bowness said. "When you have that much hockey sense, you know how to play the game, you know how to do the right thing at the right time."
That confidence allows him to feel things and not think too much. His scouting report has always been that he's a smart player, and he's shown that throughout training camp. So, when he was put beside a six-time All-Star Game participant in Tyler Seguin, he didn't hesitate once.
"I think his skill is the first thing, but the thing I noticed right away was his confidence and his mind," Seguin said. "He's not your typical rookie."
And when he was put beside Hintz and Pavelski after playing beside Seguin for much of training camp, he once against wasn't fazed.
"I think you saw the trust right from the first shift from us playing with him, and then the last shift from Bones starting him in overtime," Pavelski said of the fact the rookie was on the ice for the first shift of the 3-on-3 overtime. "He's earned it."
Bowness said he had no reservations playing such a young player in such a high-pressure situation, and of course that just builds the confidence even more for Peterson.

"The confidence is important. It's always been important for my game to have the confidence, and I think I built it up here during the preseason," he said. "It helped me a lot. I need that. I think it's natural. I've always been confident in myself. I feel like when I'm on the ice, I've just got to rely on myself and rely on my hockey sense. I've always done that. I've got to keep doing that."
Peterson was put on the Hintz line because of an upper-body injury to Jason Robertson, who traveled a similar path last season to become a lineup regular. When Robertson comes back, he'll likely jump right back into his old spot on the Hintz line, and that might mean Peterson moves back onto a line with Seguin. It's tough to get ahead of things, but it sure seems like the smart forward is forcing the coaching staff to make use of him.
Asked what his thinking was in using Peterson in overtime, and Bowness said: "You put those kids in those situations and see how they handle it, and they'll grow from it."
The way it looks right now, Peterson might just become a regular contestant on this NHL game show.
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.