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Stars splitting up top trio to jumpstart offense vs. Blues

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Alex Pietrangelo discusses how the St. Louis Blues pulled off their Game 3 win vs. the Stars after a wild third period in Dallas.

Jim Montgomery admitted on Tuesday that breaking up his top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov is something he contemplates every game.

It appears as if the Dallas Stars head coach is going to go through with that thought for Game 4 (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN; Live stream) against the St. Louis Blues. During Wednesday’s morning skate, Seguin was centering Jason Dickinson and Mats Zuccarello, while Benn and Radulov were together with Roope Hintz in the middle.

With the Stars facing the prospect of a 3-1 deficit should they lose Game 4, Montgomery is trying to inject some life into an offense that has mustered five even strength goals through three games. Only one of those 5-on-5 goals have come from a member of that No. 1 line (Seguin). Benn and Radulov each have a power play goal in the series.

“Both lines haven’t been possessing the puck enough,” Montgomery said after Wednesday. “Let’s change up the lineup and see if we can generate more offense and more possession time.”
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

The Stars’ top trio have combined for 18 shots at even strength in the series, but they haven’t all been good chances, according to Montgomery, and it’s definitely not been enough in his eyes. According to Natural Stat Trick, in a little over 33 minutes of 5-on-5 play together, they’ve done well possession-wise (53.52% Corsi) but have yet to combine for a goal. Montgomery is hoping the split will lead to improved results across his lines.

Dallas has been down this road before having fallen behind 2-1 to the Nashville Predators in Round 1 before reeling off three consecutive wins to advance. The games don’t get any easier at this points, and Montgomery is hoping the situation his players find themselves in leads to a better showing and result.

“We need to be more desperate,” Montgomery said. “That’s the one area where, it’s two games and both games that we’ve lost, we’ve played good hockey but haven’t played desperate hockey. I thought the Blues were significantly more desperate than us [Monday].”

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.