Heika's Take: 'It was a fun one'

The Stars made a lot of statements on Saturday.
One, the team is in a good place after adding Evgenii Dadonov and Max Domi at the trade deadline.
Two, persistence can get you out of a goal drought.
And three, Jamie Benn's impact in this organization is incredibly strong.

Dallas had a celebration for Benn, who played his 1,000th regular season game in February, and made a day of it. Not only did the Stars crush a red-hot Colorado Avalanche team, 5-1, they received goals from Joe Pavelski and Mason Marchment, breaking droughts of 19 and 32 games. They watched the top line look as good as it has in a month and it set the tone against a strong Colorado team who they might meet in the playoffs.
"We needed that," said Stars coach Pete DeBoer. "There were so many good things. Obviously, the Jamie Benn acknowledgement of his thousandth game and everything he means to the franchise. And then those guys getting their first goal in a long time, you could see the relief. It was a great night for us on a lot of fronts."

Dallas has been in a bit of scoring slump since Jan. 1, so getting a seven-goal game is a big deal. Doing it against the defending Stanley Cup champions who are moving up the standings is pretty significant too. The Stars are now 34-16-13 (81 points) and in first place in the Western Conference. They move seven points ahead of the Avalanche (34-21-5) and gain a great deal of confidence from the win.
"It was a good one," said forward Joe Pavelski. "We talked about it after. This was one of the better team games we have played in a while. It's where we want to be at and we did all the little things right. We stayed out of the box, were able to roll four lines and came off with a better start. Those types of things add up throughout the night. It was a fun one."

Pavelski ended an 18-game goal drought and Marchment ended a 32-game run without a goal. Those were two big moments for the individuals and the team.
"We knew it was coming," Pavelski said. "It felt like it was coming for a week or two now. When you're going good you never think you'll find yourself in one of those, but it hasn't been the first one and it's probably not the last. You try to focus on the little things and keep doing those things well. Making the plays and finding yourself around the net. It's good to see them go in."
That said, the celebration was significant when each player scored. Marchment was jubilant and linemate Tyler Seguin was just as excited when the 32-game drought finally ended.
"It's a good feeling for sure," Marchment said. "That was good. We've been grinding a lot this season and we've been through a lot together so it's good and we got one tonight."

Dallas has been concerned with slow starts but jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen. Colorado cut the deficit to 2-1, but then the top line excelled with another great play as Pavelski finished off a tic-tac-toe play late in the first period.
The Stars never looked back.
Marchment scored, Radek Faksa scored, and Wyatt Johnston scored, and then Robertson added an empty-netter. He finished with two goals and an assist, while Hintz had two assists and Pavelski a goal and an assist.
The Stars added two new forwards in Max Domi and Evgenii Dadonov, so the scoring should get even deeper. However, the top line always sets the pace and they did it again on Saturday.
It was pretty much a perfect game with the Stars dominating early, receiving good goaltending from Jake Oettinger and taking care of all details.
"I really think it was one of our most complete games," said Benn, who was honored at the beginning of the game and throughout with video congratulations from an All-Star list of former Stars players. "It was important. We knew what the challenge was and we responded."
DeBoer said he was happy with the response, but added it was just one game.
"We're not planning any parades," the coach said. "It was a really good effort and now we have to keep building on it. I don't want to undersell the importance of the win because it's an important win, but that doesn't mean all of a sudden we're the best team in the league because we beat the Stanley Cup Champions 7-3 tonight. We've got a lot of work left to do. We know Colorado] is better than how they played and we have to keep building on this for the next 20 games until the playoffs start."
*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.*