First Shift: Top line clicking again as Stars return home to face Islanders

Pete DeBoer has advocated a policy of patience in his time with the Stars, and it’s paid off pretty well for him.

DeBoer has leaned heavily on goalie Jake Oettinger, tossing him right back in after tough outings, and he did that again on Saturday with good results. In more recent days, DeBoer has tried to figure out a way to deal with a top line that has been wobbling. He turned to a similar strategy on Saturday and also was rewarded in a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Jason Robertson scored the first goal of the game, and his line with Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski was much closer to the solid contributors they have been for the past three seasons.

DeBoer had experimented with breaking them up at times this year.

“They’re not what they were last year, but they’re still an elite line. When you look at 5-on-5 scoring lines in the league, they’re still an elite line,” DeBoer said. “They’re going through a little bit of a slump right now, there’s no doubt. We’ve moved some guys around to try to find some spark, but at the end of the day, they need to figure it out.”

DeBoer said he likes how the line has handled ups and down in recent years.

“They’ve just got to figure it out,” he said. “We’ve had a few meetings with them, we’ve looked at some analytics. They’re three smart guys, they’ll figure it out.”

In the end, that’s what’s best for the team. Robertson had the second best scoring season in franchise history with 109 points (46 goals, 63 assists) last year. He’s on pace for 78 points (26 goals, 52 assists) this season, and that’s still really good. Pavelski had 0.94 points per game, the third best mark in his long career. He also was among the league leaders at plus-43. This year, he’s at 0.83 points per game and plus-2.

The Stars actually are a better scoring team this year, but that’s because of the addition of players like Matt Duchene, and the strides he’s helped Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment take in their own performances. The belief is if the Duchene line and the Hintz line are both cracking, the sky's the limit.

“We need that line to be really good,” DeBoer said. “Our best situation going into the playoffs would be with that line working, Duchene’s line working, not jumbling guys around because we haven’t gotten things done.”

One of his favorite options has been moving Wyatt Johnston up to the right wing in Pavelski’s place, but it sounds like that move might be done.

“We need Wyatt Johnston in the middle of the ice, that’s my opinion,” DeBoer said. “So they’ve got to get to work. And they will, I have no doubt about that.”

Key Numbers

3
This is just the third home game for the Stars in the past 30 days. Dallas is 17-8-3 at American Airlines Center.

28
Both the Stars and Islanders have scored first in 28 games. The Stars have a .714 points percentage when scoring first. The Islanders are at .571.

16.6
The Islanders are second in blocked shots per game at 16.6. Dallas is 19th at 15.0.

He Said It

“You’ve got to work for your bounces and it’s nice to finally get a bounce.”

- Stars forward Jason Robertson after scoring on his own rebound Saturday against Carolina. It was his second goal in the past 12 games

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.