Stars setting tone early against Avs by starting 'FCC' line

Game 5: Stars vs. Avalanche (Dallas leads 3-1)

The Stars love to start games with the FCC line -- Radek Faksa, Blake Comeau and Andrew Cogliano.
The reason, interim coach Rick Bowness said, is that the team's checking line establishes a strong work ethic, which (in theory) can then be handed to the next line and the next line and the next line. It's part of the Stars' strategy of creating momentum and rolling with it, and FCC has become a huge part of that strategy.
"They do a great job," Bowness said. "They love the role they have with our hockey club. They know their role is not only to shut down the opposition line, but to give us momentum. They give us momentum because they are structurally sound, they're very consistent, they finish their hits and they don't give up much on the rush."
That's going to be very important Monday in Game 5, as the Stars try to close out their series with the Colorado Avalanche. Dallas leads 3-1 in the best-of-seven series and could earn its first trip to the Western Conference final since 2008 with a victory. But the Stars know that eliminating a team is no easy task. In Game 6 against Calgary, the Flames took a 3-0 lead before Dallas was able to come back and earn a 7-3 victory.
"We better bring our A-game tonight, we better bring our best game," Bowness said. "One thing we know is Calgary threw everything they could at us and we were down 3-0 early, and we were on our heels. So it's very important for us to learn from that. Colorado is coming hard, they're not going to sit back and wait to see what happens."

While the Stars need an answer from everyone, they could look to FCC to set the bar high early. Throughout the series, that line has been tasked with going against Hart Trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the playoffs in scoring. Faksa said he and his linemates embrace that challenge.
"The most important is to limit the rush," Faksa said after a 5-4 win Sunday. "They're a really good rush team with lots of speed and lots of skill. The forwards have to back-check really hard, get back in the zone, and help out the defense. I think we did that for the most part and that's why we won."
Of course, Faksa also had a goal and two assists, so if his line can force the Avalanche's best players to defend in their own zone, that's also a good way of attacking things.
"We wanted to answer the bell from the last game," Faksa said. "We tried to get the puck deep, be physical, have some O-zone time and set the pace."
Faksa is scoring on the power play, but he's using the same philosophy whether he's on special teams or at even strength - win puck battles, get to the net, and basically create havoc…and then pass that momentum to the next Stars line.
"That's a very important line for our hockey club," Bowness said. "They don't get recognition because they don't score a lot, but that doesn't matter. They're just as important to our team as any line we have."

Injured Avalanche relying on depth to stay alive

The Avalanche are missing Philipp Grubauer, Erik Johnson, Matt Calvert and Joonas Donskoi, and do not expect any of them to be available for Game 5. Coach Jared Bednar said the team simply has to find improvement within the current players.
"We're not going to play injured players that can't play," Bednar said. "We have what we have. Injuries never help you, and we have to find a way without them."
The Avalanche players say they feel they can play better. Dallas did a great job of getting to the net and drawing penalties in Game 4. The Stars scored on three of six power plays, and that was the difference in the game.
"We're letting their big bodies stand in front of the net and tip pucks unharmed right now," MacKinnon said. "I think we can win more battles, be more mean in our crease to help [the goalies] out. In terms of belief, we have no choice. We're just trying to get Game 5, make it 3-2 and go from there. We can't win three games in one game or one day. We're going to take it step by step and get that W."
Dallas has scored 19 goals in the first four games of the series, and while Bednar said backup goalie Pavel Francouz bears some blame, the entire team has to be better.

"We haven't defended our best in this series. I've seen our team defend better," Bednar said. "So, I would rely on that rather than just going into some shell that we're not used to playing in. We defend better when we're on our toes and getting after a team, making it hard on them with our quickness and our puck pressure all over the ice.
"We haven't been at our best in this series and we're going to have to be at our best to win the next game and so on down the line. I would put pressure on our team to be better than what we've been in some of the areas we've been stressing all year, rather than looking at a totally different approach."
The series has been crazy, with each team going on strong scoring runs. However, MacKinnon said right now the Stars are getting the better of the momentum.
"They're very opportunistic," MacKinnon said. "Obviously, some of that is on us. When they get one, they get two or three right now, and we've got to limit that. The series isn't over. We're going to be ready for Game 5."

Bowness staying in the moment

Bowness took over as the Stars interim head coach in December when Jim Montgomery was fired, and he said at the time that he was taking the job because he was asked by general manager Jim Nill, and also that he and Nill agreed that they would wait until the season is over before discussing what might come next.
That subject came up on Monday's pre-game Zoom call, and Bowness reiterated that he and Nill have an understanding and that they will stick to that understanding.
"When they asked me to finish the season, that was the agreement we had right then," Bowness said. "We'll talk about the future after the season. That's what we'll do."
Bowness, 65, said he doesn't think about the future right now and that he is focused on winning the Stanley Cup. He said that the team has focused on each individual game and he is doing the same.
"I haven't even given that any thought. There's no time for that," Bowness said. "I tell our players we stay in the moment. I want our coaches to stay in the moment, as well."

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By the numbers

55

That's the amount of hits for Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. He ranks second only to Vegas forward Ryan Reaves (61) so far in the playoffs.

12

That's the point streak for MacKinnon, who leads the NHL in scoring with 21 points in 12 games. MacKinnon set a franchise record for the Avalanche/Nordiques, which had been at 10 games for Marian Stastny and Joe Sakic.

6

That's the power-play point total for Stars forward Roope Hintz (one goal, five assists). Hintz leads the Stars in power-play scoring. The Stars' "second unit" currently has eight power-play goals.

He said it

"A lot of players are feeling really good about their game right now and that's why we're such a confident group…Something that we were talking about at the start of camp in August, we wanted the D to be more involved, get more O-zone time, and that's one of the keys to why you're seeing more offense."
-- Stars defenseman John Klingberg

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Joe Pavelski - Denis Gurianov
Andrew Cogliano - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Jason Dickinson - Roope Hintz - Corey Perry
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak - Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera - Taylor Fedun
Anton Khudobin
Jake Oettinger
Unfit to Play: Stephen Johns, Ben Bishop
Scratched: Justin Dowling, Jason Robertson, Ty Dellandrea, Thomas Harley, Joel Kiviranta, Nick Caamano, Joel Hanley, Gavin Bayreuther, Landon Bow
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.