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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Stars Shutting Down Nashville’s Top Line

Posted on by Tyler Mair

In a close series between the Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars, the difference might boil down to each team’s top scorers. Tyler Seguin and company are performing admirably for the Stars, but the Predators have yet to get much out of Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, and Viktor Arvidsson

That’s in large part thanks to the Stars’ checking line consisting of Andrew Cogliano, Radek Faksa, and Blake Comeau. Head coach Jim Montgomery tries his best to get the trio out against Nashville’s top line, and they’ve done a great job of shutting down the Nashville forwards thus far:

“For offensive players, they want time and space and they want to be able to carry the puck into your end to be creative,” Montgomery said. ”We’re not giving Nashville in general a lot of those opportunities, but in particular, those guys and the d-men that are out there against the Johansen line have done a terrific job of that.”

If the Predators want to consistently get past the Great Wall of Ben Bishop, they’ll have to get more out of their top line. Head coach Peter Laviolette believes that his players will step up and rise to the occasion:

“There’s a lot of confidence from me that not only that line, but others as well will be able to find a way to contribute,” Laviolette said. “I would think that they would agree that it hasn’t gone the way that they wanted so far. Knowing these three guys tells me that they will get it going and they will figure it out. They’ve been a real positive line for us for a long time.”

You can read more from Matthew DeFranks here.

Stars Stories

While John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen get most of the attention, never forget how great Esa Lindell is:

Wayne Simmonds and Brian Boyle will practice tomorrow, though likely won’t play. Then again, it is the playoffs, where players would play with a broken leg if they could:

Someone who definitely will be in the lineup tomorrow is P.K. Subban, who will not face any discipline for his hit on Jamie Benn in Game 4:

Around the League

The Carolina Hurricanes have evened the series against the Washington Capitals, winning last night 2-1:

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues scored three goals in the third period to come back and beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2, taking the series lead:

The real question, of course, is which of these Blues goals was more impressive? The game-tying goal?…

…or the game-winning goal?

Lastly, the San Jose Sharks avoided elimination with a decisive 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights:

Down Goes Brown’s Grab Bag came early this week, including some not-so-comforting words for Tampa Bay Lightning fans:

Speaking of the Lightning, looks like there won’t be any overreaction regarding their head coach:

Now that the Selke finalists have been announced, who will end up taking home the trophy?

Speaking of trophies, we have our Lady Byng finalists:

Here’s a look at what Team USA might look like at this year’s Men’s World Championship:

Finally, what everyone already knew is officially happening — Steve Yzerman is returning to Detroit:

Talking Points