And while the Stars would love to spread the wealth a little bit, they're thankful for the consistency from three players who have built some very impressive chemistry.
"They're carrying the team," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "You've got to have your top line get you going when you're behind and they came through."
The Stars were trailing 2-0 in the second period when the trio whipped up some beautiful passing and manufactured a goal. Then, two minutes later, Robertson found Hintz open in transition, and the score was tied. It was the epitome of clutch scoring.
Of course, the top line has found ways to do that all stages of the game. Earlier in the season, they'd open games with quick goals to give the Stars early leads. They've scored goals to force overtime. They've scored goals to win overtimes. More recently, they've just scored in bunches. They have 13 of the team's past 18 goals and continue to allow their teammates to work through terrible goal-scoring droughts.
Jacob Peterson has added 12 goals and Luke Glendening nine, but several other Stars players are way behind their expected output. Tyler Seguin has 23, Jamie Benn 18, Radek Faksa has five, while Alexander Radulov and Miro Heiskanen have four apiece. The Stars were hoping for more than that.
Still, when Dallas gets a big goal from a depth forward, the way it did Saturday from Vladislav Namestnikov, then it can push games into the win column.
"The fourth line comes up and gets the winning goal," Bowness said. "It's balanced scoring and - talk about timely goals - that was a timely goal."
But it only works if the top guys keep scoring. Robertson, 22, is in just his second NHL season, but is at 1.06 points per game. He was at 0.88 last season. Robertson has a history of being a big scorer going back to junior hockey. Hintz, 25, took a slower path, but took a huge step up in his second AHL season. He was above a point a game last season in the NHL and is close to that level right now (0.91).
Asked if the two young players are becoming "clutch" scorers, Bowness said yes.
"They've got great offensive instincts," Bowness said. "Roope can play against anyone, and he's one of the fastest, strongest skaters in the league. When he's skating like that and he has the confidence with the puck, you've got to love it. He's going in cutting into the net. Robo's a smart player offensive player, they just read off each other and they know where to go."
Pavelski's 37 and having some of the best scoring seasons of his career. He has 27 goals, and he has been huge in helping the younger players find the net. He tallied his 500th career assist on Saturday.
"That's a lot of passes, but you see every game he makes lots of great plays," Hintz said. "So, it's not a surprise that he has that number."
And it's no surprise the trio continues to click. Pavelski said he appreciates the savvy of both Hintz and Robertson, noting that Hintz gives the line a two-way element that allows them to play in any situation.
"What I really like about him is he's a complete player," Pavelski said. "Defensively, he's very responsible. Off the rush, he's good. Forecheck, there's no problems. He's got a great head on him, wants to work, do it the right way and makes it easy on his linemates."
And that seems to be a trend with this group.
"You can see it, they read off of each other," Bowness said. "They know where each other is. They're just very confident with the puck, very poised with the puck. They buy time for each other is what they do."
The Stars' final homestand of the regular season continues Tuesday with a can't-miss game against the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:30 p.m. 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.
