First Shift 🏒

Maybe the best thing about the Stars’ ability to deal with adversity is that they handle change very well.

Heiskanen in? No problem, we’ll try seven defensemen. Seguin back? Shuffle the lines. Robertson trying to find a niche when his spot gets taken by Mikael Granlund during a playoff injury absence? Well, we’ll work it out.

So with Roope Hintz possibly returning for Game 4 after missing Game 3, the Stars seem more than equipped to handle whatever happens. Hintz skated in warmup for Game 3, but didn’t play. As a result, Granlund moved to center and Robertson jumped from the fourth line to the first. While Dallas lost a 6-1 game, the analytics of the moves were surprisingly successful. Robertson had five shots on goal and tallied his first goal of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the reshuffled fourth line of Steel with Colin Blackwell and Oskar Bäck combined for eight shots on goal in about 13 minutes of ice time.

“It’s next man up,” said Granlund. “You just adjust.”

Hintz skated at practice Monday in Edmonton and looked good. However, he still has to go through a morning skate on Tuesday and the Stars then probably won’t make a final decision until after the pregame warm-up.

“Heal and get better and cross our fingers and try it again in warmups,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said Monday.

Hintz, who received a slash from Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse in Game 2 on the top of his skate and suffered a “lower body injury,” said he is optimistic.

“The biggest thing right now for me is to just worry about what I can do that I can be able to play tomorrow,” Hintz said after practice. “You want to play every game, especially in the playoffs. Every game is so important. Sometimes sports are what they are. I’m now trying everything that I can so tomorrow I am able to play.”

If Hintz comes back in, there is the thought he would center Granlund and Rantanen, as he has for much of the playoffs. Could that change what Robertson is doing? Would the coaches put Robertson back on the fourth line or is there a better spot for him?

“They just made that adjustment and I had to step up,” Robertson said of Game 3. “It’s up to everybody to step up.”

In addition to finding a spot for Robertson if Hintz returns, DeBoer and company will have to look at the fourth line. Because of the health of the team in recent games, the traditional fourth line hasn’t been together as much. But the trio of Steel, Blackwell and Bäck had some real success during the regular season and early in the playoffs. Could they earn a spot in Game 4 while a more regular forward gets a healthy scratch?

“They were great last night,” DeBoer said. “If every time we got them together and played them, they played like that…we wouldn’t have broken them up. They gave us some great juice last night and if we get them back out there together, whether that’s tomorrow night or the next night, we need the same thing.”

And while the fourth line can help tilt the ice, the Stars do need someone to score goals. They have one in the past two games against Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner and have scored just 10 in seven road games (1.42 per game) in the postseason. So whatever they do with the potential return of Hintz, they have to find a way to score more goals.

“I think last night was one of our better games,” said forward Wyatt Johnston. “We can do a better job of finishing. No matter who you are playing, you want to get bodies in front of the goalie and make life difficult for him.”

The Stars have done that before. They won Game 7 against Colorado with a four-goal third period and had five goals in the third against Edmonton in Game 1. They have been able to raise their offensive game when the need has been there.

“It’s 2-1 in the series and we still have an opportunity to get one on the road,” Robertson said. “So I don’t think there’s any frustration. We know what we have to do.”