Run to Calder Cup Finals paying dividends for Stars' young forwards

ST. LOUIS --They might well be this team's secret weapon right now, and even the Stars don't know when or how they will be deployed.
With injuries to Jamie Benn (upper body), Mats Zuccarello (broken arm) and Andrew Cogliano (upper body), the Stars are using three players who were a significant part of the Texas Stars' run to the Calder Cup Final last season -- Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov and Joel L'Esperance.
And while each has his own challenges in trying to carve out a spot in the NHL, jumping into games now that have playoff-like pressure is easier because of the AHL experience.

"The experience of learning how to win in hard games and how to battle through adversity - it's harder to score goals, it's harder to create offense -- all of those things are helping these young men right now," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery.
Hintz was on the ice for 19:24 on Thursday in a 4-3 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings. He started the 3-on-3 OT period and ended up scoring the game-winning goal later in overtime.
He is fast becoming one of the team's more consistent players, and he's doing it because he is fast.
"I tell him he has to slow down or I have to speed up," joked speedy center Tyler Seguin.
Seguin has been playing beside Hintz a great deal, and he likes the fit.

"He's playing better and better with the opportunities he's getting," Seguin said. "He's a real fast player, and he's young, so there are going to be some ups and downs, but I really like his game right now."
Hintz made the NHL roster out of camp, played a few games, had a few healthy scratches, and was sent back to the minors. He came back up again in November, but was again sent back down. He then was called up after Christmas, and has been here ever since. He has five goals among 11 points in 40 games, including two goals in his past two games, and he's also starting to play more consistently in the top six.
He said he is trying not to think on the ice, and playing fast is helping him.
"When you play fast and skate hard, that's when you get the flow going, and it's easier to just play the game," he said. "I really don't think about the pressure much or think about any bad things. I just play the way I know I can play. I really just want to play the game and not think too much.
"If you think much, that's when you get nervous. I don't want to be nervous."
Hintz, 22, said going through 22 AHL playoff games was a good teacher in how to not get nervous. He finished with four goals among 18 points and was a key defensive player for the Texas Stars.
Gurianov actually struggled in the playoffs and was a healthy scratch at times. He had five points in 16 games, but the struggles created an off-season drive in the 21-year-old who was drafted 12th overall in 2015.
He has 37 points (14 goals, 23 assists) in 37 games with the Texas Stars this season, and said he better understands the pressure of the game.

"It helps a lot. It was a huge step for me to play in the finals," Gurianov said. "We are trying to make playoffs right now, and it feels a lot like those games last year."
L'Esperance, 23, came out of Michigan Tech and played just nine AHL regular season games, so getting another 22 in the playoffs was huge for him.
"It's a similar atmosphere coming into these games, so you have to bring that same kind of preparation and attention to detail that you did in the playoffs," L'esperance said. "So going through it like that is definitely a help. When you play in a Game 7, that's extremely high pressure, so when you go through something like that, you learn from it and you're better from it."
L'Esperance said there really is a difference to the intensity of the games in the AHL playoffs and now, so having been through the experience of preparing and then participating just makes you more comfortable.
"It's not like a game in October or December," he said. "You have to bring you're `A' game every night in the playoffs, and it's the same thing right now. If you don't bring your best game right now, teams will jump all over you."
The Stars are hoping they will have some answers for those feisty opponents.
"We're trying to get will out of everybody, not only them," Montgomery said when asked about the trio. "Second and third efforts, willing yourself to win battles and gain momentum, every inch, every foot of ice is really hard to get right now."
So, you might as well use every tool you have to deal with that -- and right now, playoff experience is a heck of a tool to possess.
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.