Klingberg stepping up for Stars when needed the most

John Klingberg is an intriguing mix of determined energy, athletic arrogance, and amazing calm.

The Stars defenseman isn't the biggest player in the world or the fastest skater, and yet he will get into a scrum or bounce off a hard check. He'll also turn whatever anger those hits might produce inward and allow that to fuel his performance. And then when the chips are on the line, he'll often channel that energy in a slow, patient manner.

Klingberg on Tuesday had the game-winning goal in a 2-1 Game 5 victory over the Calgary Flames to give the Stars a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. The game before, he assisted on the overtime game-winner that was tipped by Alexander Radulov. He's coming up big at the right time of year.

"He makes big-time plays," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "He's got a tremendous amount of confidence in himself with the puck. He's got great skills, he's got good vision, and he's able to step up. In those situations, you've got to slow the game down in your mind a little bit so it's not going too fast, and he has that ability. That was a great shot."

With the game tied 1-1 heading into the third period, Klingberg was trying to get his team revved up. He made a couple of deft plays on one shift, as he kept a puck inside the offensive zone and moved it into a safe area. Teammate Mattias Janmark then went and recovered the puck, curled off the boards into the slot and fed Klingberg for a wrister from the right side.

Klingberg used the same wrister in overtime in Game 4, and Radulov tipped it. This time, he simply beat Calgary goalie Cam Talbot with his whistling shot.

Asked why he prefers the wrister, Klingberg said he has been working on his shot a great deal.

"I don't think you have enough time to lay the puck up and shoot a slapshot, so I've been working hard the last couple of years wristing shots through and getting it through traffic," he said. "I think that's what you need nowadays."

Teammates say Klingberg is very effective at getting the puck to the net and making it easy to tip. The 28-year-old defenseman had seven shot attempts in Game 5, and 15 in Game 4.

"I like when he has 15 shot attempts," said center Joe Pavelski. "Our D are good at getting it down there. It's just got to get there sometimes."

Of course, it also has to stay out of there on the other end, and Klingberg has been doing that, as well. Listed at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Klingberg has been the target of Calgary's heavy forecheckers in the series. But instead of wearing down taking hits or big minutes, he's actually gotten better as the series has gone along.

"I think every team is trying to do the same. It's a big part of hockey, getting pucks deep and I wouldn't say run the defense, but tire them out," Klingberg said. "It's something we've been dealing with as a team, the forwards are holding them up, and obviously we know they're going to through sometimes and come try to hit the body.

"But at the same time, their biggest players are playing a lot of minutes and I feel like earlier in the series, they were coming a lot harder than they are right now, so they might get a little tired trying to run around, and that's not a bad thing for us. We want to have a fourth guy join the rush, and we've got a lot of good skaters who can join the rush when they try to take the body and (we can) go the other way."

Bowness touched by tribute to Hawerchuk

Bowness was caught on camera weeping at a video memorial to Hall-of-Famer Dale Hawerchuk, who died on Tuesday at age 57. Bowness both played with and coached Hawerchuk when the two were with the Winnipeg Jets.

"I was fortunate enough to play with Dale," Bowness said. "I wasn't much of a player so I also had great admiration for his skills. The year we drafted him back in 1981 - I know I'm aging myself here - I was just a journeyman hockey player, but when he stepped on the ice with us in the scrimmage you had prior to training camp, he was 18 and you say, 'Wow, this kid is the real deal, and he's going to turn that franchise around,' which he did. And then you get to know him as a person - there's elite athletes and there's elite people, and Dale is both. Just a solid, solid person. I was proud to call him a teammate."

Bowness was interim head coach and Hawerchuk was his captain during the 1988-89 season.

"When I coached him, you get to know him a lot better and you start to see different things from a coaching perspective," Bowness said. "It's not like I've seen Dale a lot over the last couple of years because he's had his career, and I've had mine, and we go our different ways, but the Jet family in the 80s and the 90s was a very, very close family. All of us are touched. We lost a huge part of our Jet family."

Quick hits

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Video: CGY@DAL, Gm5: Janmark sets up Klingberg for leadis a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter Video: CGY@DAL, Gm5: Janmark sets up Klingberg for lead, and listen to his Video: CGY@DAL, Gm5: Janmark sets up Klingberg for lead.