First Shift 🏒

The Stars have been great this year at changing position on the power play, and that’s one reason the man advantage sits second in the NHL at 30.0 percent efficiency.

But a strange play Saturday in a 3-2 win over Utah actually was maybe the best reflection of just how flexible the power play is. Thomas Harley and Mavrik Bourque came onto the ice with the second unit and found themselves in mixed position. Harley, a defenseman, was down in front of the net in the “bumper” position while Bourque, a forward, was up top at the blue line. Both stayed in their spots, Bourque read the situation and flipped a shot on net.

Harley deflected the puck off the post and them scored on his own rebound, giving Dallas a 1-0 lead 2:11 into the game.

It was a smart play…and a huge play.

“The way the power play is run, it’s not fully scripted. So even though guys are off script, they can still play,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “That’s the best way to run a power play. They improved, they made a hockey play and that’s what you want.”

Harley said he has played the bumper before, so he understood the responsibilities. And Bourque clearly read his role as he moved the puck around the blue line a couple of times before shooting.

“We got in the zone and all positions were kind of messed up, so you just fill a spot,” Harley said. “If you can rotate back to your spot in the flow of things, great. If not, you stick where you are. I know how to play bumper so I just stayed there and made eye contact with Borky.”

It was a fantastic read because the second unit hasn’t been getting big ice time this season. The top unit plays about three times as much, so the second unit has had to really capitalize on its opportunities. Harley right now is getting about 1:24 in power play time per game while Bourque is at 0:55.

Still, the flexibility also is reflected in the top unit, and it makes a difference. Rantanen leads the Stars in power play time on ice at 3:49 per game and is second in the NHL in power play assists at 24. Johnston averages 3:21 per game on the man advantage and leads the NHL in power play goals at 18.

“We pride ourselves on being a really good PP and PK,” Johnston said. “I think you need that come playoff time. We only get a couple of power plays a night, but when you can score, it’s so important.”

Dallas went 2-for-4 Saturday against Utah. The Stars were 0-for-2 against Vegas, but then were 2-for-3, 2-for-5, 0-for-2 and 2-for-3. That’s a huge reason they are 5-1-0 on their past six games.

Changing things around every game has helped.

“I think if you stay too stagnant that’s when teams will start covering things up, so it’s super important to move things around and find different ways to get pucks there and get pucks to the net,.” Johnston said.

Asked about the Harley play, he said: “It’s just playing hockey. We’re all in the NHL for a reason and that’s because everyone has good instincts and can read games really well and can play in all sorts of situations. That’s not exactly how you draw it up, having Harl’s there in the middle, but he did a great job there.”

Harley said surprise is a great strategy.

“When you get stagnant, it’s hard to get them out of position, so when you get rolling and switching, guys forget which hands are where and it opens up different things and you get success off of that,” he said.

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