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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Benn Leading the Way for Dallas

The captain is stepping up in a big way this postseason for the Stars. Plus, Dallas takes on Nashville in Game 4 tonight, the Lightning and Penguins were swept yesterday, and more.

Throughout his tenure as captain of the Dallas Stars, Jamie Benn’s leadership ability has often been criticized by fans and the media alike. But inside the locker room, the Stars consider Benn as their unquestioned leader, someone who can motivate his teammates and help alter the course of a game.

For instance, the Stars were getting badly outshot by the Nashville Predators to start the first period on Monday. That started to change once Benn fired up both the Stars and the crowd with a hit on Calle Janrok:

“I think shots might have been 7-1 [for] Nashville and Jamie Benn runs over Jarnkrok in front of our bench,” Montgomery said. “Jamie Benn is clearly our leader and clearly the person that elevates our intensity and our will on the ice.”

Benn leads by example, and his example is a strong, physical game without sacrificing skill. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering he learned a lot from previous captain Brendan Morrow early in his NHL career:

“Probably the biggest thing [I learned] was how to compete,” Benn said. “It was fun to watch him and play alongside him and see how he goes about his business and watch him compete every day at practice and in games. Truly the ultimate competitor. There was probably nobody better I could learn from than Morrow.”

You can read more from Saad Yousuf here.

Stars Stories

Game 4 is tonight. Win and the Stars tie up the series. Lose and they face elimination on Saturday in Nashville:

Despite some controversy surrounding goaltender Ben Bishop’s performance on Monday, he’ll be back in net:

Jason Spezza should also be in the lineup after a solid Game 3. The veteran forward started the playoffs as a healthy scratch, but has taken it in stride:

Around the League

It’s official. The Columbus Blue Jackets have swept the Tampa Bay Lightning after a 7-3 win:

A few minutes later, Columbus lent their broom to the New York Islanders, who finished their own sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins:

It took overtime, but the Winnipeg Jets have now evened up their series against the St. Louis Blues with a 2-1 win:

Lastly, the Vegas Golden Knights demolished the San Jose Sharks 5-0 on their way to a 3-1 series lead:

Vegas is looking like they’ll cruise their way to the second round, in large part thanks to the deadline acquisition of Mark Stone:

Speaking of the Knights-Sharks series, something tells me Evander Kane and Ryan Reaves don’t like each other:

In honor of the Lightning’s infamous implosion, here’s a list of other great regular season teams they’ve joined:

The next head coach of the Los Angeles Kings will be Todd McLellan, who is apparently contracted by the NHL to remain in the Pacific Division:

The World U18 Championship is underway. Here are some names you should keep an eye on:

Finally...

Congratulations to John Klingberg for being nominated by the Stars for the King Clancy. Can’t think of a more worthy candidate this season:

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