Heika's Take: Stars ride wave of momentum to finish trip with a win

Momentum is real.
Okay, well, confidence and good feelings and positivity are real, and they can sure look like momentum.

The Stars capped a four-game road trip with their best game of the week, beating New Jersey 5-1 at Prudential Arena Tuesday. You could say that the road sweep was a product of building one game on top of another, and you could say the Stars rode a giant wave of momentum Tuesday, but you could also say they just got to a place where they believed in themselves.
"We played last night, and we knew we wanted to come out right from the start and build momentum," defenseman Ryan Suter said. "I think you're just more comfortable, more confident when you find ways to win."

The Stars battled through victories in Buffalo, Detroit and Philadelphia that weren't exactly pretty. On Tuesday, they scored 14 seconds into the game and had a 3-0 lead by the first intermission. While that caused a bit of a statistical "sit back," the Stars were in control the entire game and looked very sharp overall.
Joe Pavelski finished with two goals and two assists, Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and five players were plus-4 on the night.

"It was a great win," coach Rick Bowness said. "Any time you're playing back-to-back, you always know it's a challenge when the other team is sitting there waiting for you. I was very proud the guys. It certainly helps when you score 14 seconds into the first shift of the game."

This was the eighth time the top line with Pavelski, Hintz and Jason Robertson has scored in the first two minutes of a game. Robertson did a great job of hounding the puck and getting a pass to an open Pavelski in the slot, and he slipped a shot through a screen by Hintz. Pavelski said the line is always trying to score, so it was just a hard-working play that worked.
"I think at the end of the day, we're playing the right way," Pavelski said when asked about the tendency to score early. "We got a little bit of puck luck, some bounces, but we worked to get multiple chances. In this league, you find out you need a to create a couple of good chances to get one. Guys are playing hard. My first goal, the shot is nothing crazy, but it goes in because Roope's going to the net hard and creating some traffic in front. We're just hounding pucks and it's going in."

That set the tone for a big game that was needed. Dallas has struggled on the road this season and the four-game winning streak only lifts the record away from home to 8-12-1. Still, it's a huge step in the right direction, and it was a massive motivating factor for a team that played the night before.
"The guys all dug in tonight," Bowness said. "They all wanted to come home 4-0."
And that was clear throughout. Jacob Peterson scored for the second consecutive game, Pavelski tipped in a Miro Heiskanen shot for his second goal of the game, and then Pavelski fed Hintz for a transition goal 15 seconds into the second period. It was a very opportunistic outing. While New Jersey had a 37-32 lead in shots on goal and a 74-46 advantage in shot attempts, the Stars were in control throughout.
"It feels good, for sure," Suter said. "That's how you want to play. It's more fun to play in those games, and it's actually easier to play in those games. Those are the games you want to try to duplicate, and hopefully we can continue to with that same style of play moving forward."
Jani Hakanpää added an empty-net goal to add to a nice balance of depth scoring on the road trip. He logged 21:20 as John Klingberg missed the game with an upper-body injury. Most of the forwards played 10 minutes or more, and Luke Glendenning missed that mark because he got in a rare fight while sticking up for a teammate.
That was just one more good thing on the road trip.

"There's no quit in them," Bowness said, referencing the loss to Montreal before the road trip. "Even in that crazy Montreal game, there was a lot of fight in that third period. I'm very proud of the way they work, and they work together. Glenny stepped up tonight after they took a run at one of our players. Somebody takes a run at one of us, they take a run at all of us. We're a family and we stick up for one another, and what Glenny did there tonight was absolutely awesome."
The Stars will try to continue with that style of play as they head home for three big contests before the All-Star Break. Dallas plays Washington on Friday, then meets Boston and Calgary as the competition level steps up.
Still, if this team continues to play "the right way," the chance of making up more ground in the Western Conference playoff race is definitely possible.
"It was an opportunity to cap off a great road trip," Pavelski said. "This road trip was huge for us, with all of the scoring we got from different lines, timely goals, that's what we need to do. Everyone needs to chip in and that's how we can get back in this race."
Don't miss your chance to see Sergei Zubov's No. 56 raised to the rafters prior to Dallas' home game against the Washington Capitals this Friday at 6 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.