First Shift 🏒
Nathan Bastian scored a goal Saturday, and did it the right way.
The Stars’ new winger is a big body (6-4, 205) who can bring some physicality and smart defense…as well as a few goals here and there. Bastian went to the net hard and was there to deflect in an Esa Lindell pass that made the score 2-2 in the second period. It was a key moment in an eventual 5-4 shootout win against the Colorado Avalanche.
“Whenever you can contribute, it’s nice,” Bastian said. “When you’re on a new team and you’re trying to make friends, it’s even better. It’s just a reward for playing the right way.”
And that might be the best message from the moment, according to coach Glen Gulutzan. By going to the net, by doing the hard things, Bastian and his linemates helped change momentum. In a game where Colorado was dominating possession, Dallas was able to get energy from the fourth line.
“We had a couple of good sequences where we were stacking shifts and that led to goals,” Gulutzan said of how the depth forwards can give momentum to the top lines with hard-working shifts that hand off momentum. “I thought they played well. You need that from your bottom six to see if they can change the momentum of a game that’s not really going your way.”
That’s important when you consider several of the depth forwards are new to the team. Bastian signed a one-year deal with the Stars after spending eight seasons in the Devils organization. He’s a veteran at age 27 and has played 278 NHL games. He’s been joined on the fourth line with Radek Faksa, 31, and Justin Hryckowian, 24, and could also see future linemates in Adam Erne, 30, and Oskar Bäck, 25.
Faksa returned from St. Louis this season, so he is familiar with the organization, but this is a new group and he said he’s excited to bond with his linemates.
“We know what our job is, and we don’t try to do more than we’re supposed to do,” Faksa said. “I think that’s good because we play a simple game and that can really work for us.”
In addition to those five, Gulutzan also could use Colin Blackwell and Mavrik Bourque on the fourth line, or there could be a mishmash that finds a way to bring more energy.
“You can see in a game like that where we didn’t have our legs, they help you. They help you create energy,” Gulutzan said. “You need everyone contributing. You can’t win this thing without everybody taking a little piece, and you can’t have a great team without everybody feeling that they have a little piece.”
Bastian is a big part of that. He grew up in Kitchener, Ontario and watched Faksa when he was a player there. It’s stories like that that can bring together linemates.
“He said he had a picture with me back then, so I want him to find it,” Faksa said. “I think that’s a neat thing, I hope he can find it.”
If Bastian does, he can put it right next to the postgame photo with Faksa and Hryckowian celebrating his first goal in a Stars sweater on Saturday.
“It’s going great,” Bastian said. “It doesn’t take long to feel like you’re pretty close buddies.”
