The Stars will begin their second-round series against the Seattle Kraken in a similar state, literally and figuratively, as they did their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild. Thanks to Kraken’s upset of the Central-winning Avalanche, the Stars maintain home ice and start things off in Texas at the American Airlines Center.

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Much more important than the venue, though, the Stars’ roster has been restored to full strength. After almost a week of skating with the team in limited participation, Joe Pavelski was a full participant in practice on Monday, reclaiming his rightful spot on the top power-play unit and rejoining line rushes. But where Pavelski skated in those line rushes was interesting. That’s where we begin our examination of a couple of key things to start the series.

Lineup impact of Pavelski’s return

In what was somewhat of a surprise, Pavelski did not plug right back in on the Stars’ top line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz. Instead, Stars head coach Pete DeBoer kept Tyler Seguin up on the top line and fit Pavelski on the right side of the second line with Max Domi and Mason Marchment.

“I thought Seggy did an unbelievable job jumping in that spot,” DeBoer said. “If we can put Pavs in a different spot, that makes us better. If that first line can continue to play the way that they did against Minnesota, I think that allows for us to be a deeper team with Pavs on one of the other lines.”

It’s really a win-win situation for DeBoer. The chemistry of the Robertson, Hintz, Pavelski line is so advanced that if the new iteration with Seguin falters at any point, DeBoer can reunite the line as abruptly as midgame and not miss a beat. That trio has shown before that it’s capable of picking things up immediately, no matter how much time they’ve been separated, usually because of injuries.

But the upside to this new combination can be great for the Stars. Through the first round of the playoffs, eight line combinations played at least 50 minutes in the NHL, according to MoneyPuck. The Stars’ top line of Robertson, Hintz and Seguin was second in expected goals percentage at 53.8 percent (Dallas’ third line of Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov was right behind at 52.2 percent). Obviously, the production lagged and put both lines at fifth and sixth, respectively, but five-on-five scoring was a team-wide issue for the Stars. Playing with Robertson and Hintz brought out a different version of Seguin. If the Stars can keep that while getting the same old version of Pavelski on the second line, the top six can go to a different level, especially if Pavelski’s presence has a similar impact with Domi and Marchment as it does with Robertson and Hintz.

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While Pavelski’s return at five-on-five is in a new spot, his spot in front of the net on the first power-play unit was never in question.

“That’s a given,” DeBoer said. “He’s got the most goals in the history of U.S. hockey. That’s not coaching, that’s just looking at the stat sheet and putting a guy out in the right spot.”

Stars power play units in practice (5/1):

Pavelski
Hintz — Benn — Robertson
Heiskanen

Dadonov/Marchment
Domi — Seguin — Johnston
Suter

— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) May 1, 2023

Pavelski’s impact goes beyond the top six. The veteran forward sliding in to the second line means Ty Dellandrea is now able to go back to his spot on the fourth line, where Radek Faksa is a mainstay. That leaves three forwards for Dallas in Fredrik Olofsson, Joel Kiviranta and Luke Glendening. Olofsson has been a healthy scratch but the decision for the final spot comes down to Glendening and Kiviranta. Both players had fantastic stretches during the series against the Wild, with Glendening’s being more recent in how he killed off a penalty in Game 6.

In some ways, Kiviranta and Glendening are similar players. They have nonstop motors, have high energy, work hard, work smart and play the grinding fourth-line role and penalty kill well. The tiebreak goes to Glendening because of his talents in the circle. Glendening not only takes faceoffs but he’s elite at winning his draws. That’s part of the Stars’ identity. They were the No. 1 faceoff team in the NHL during the regular season. Through the first round, their 56.3 percent win rate is, again, tops in the league. Their dominance in the circle, especially in key situations, played a big role in dispatching the Wild, who finished the first round dead last in the circle, the way they did.

DeBoer likes to have two centermen/faceoff specialists per line. On the top line, that’s Hintz and Seguin. On the second line, it’s Domi and Pavelski. On the third line, it’s Benn and Johnston — the latter to a lesser extent, but Benn is the best on the team. On the fourth line, the Stars have Glendening, 66.7 percent in the playoffs, and Faksa. Dellandrea can take faceoffs but he’s toward the bottom of the list in that department for Dallas, both in the regular season and playoffs.

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While Glendening will start in the lineup, and Colin Miller will draw back in for Joel Hanley on the back end, DeBoer spoke to the need for depth throughout the series and playoff run overall.

“We’re going to need everybody here. We’re going to need our depth,” DeBoer said. “Kiviranta started as a healthy scratch (against the Wild), came in and we wouldn’t have won the first round without his contributions. Same with Hanley. Both of those guys came in and gave us very valuable minutes over the last half of that series, and I expect the same now.”

The more intriguing swap is Miller back in for Hanley because playing with Hanley seemed to suit Thomas Harley better, even if Miller is the better individual talent over Hanley.

Winning five-on-five

Throughout the series against Minnesota, DeBoer didn’t hide at all what the game plan and expectation were to beat the Wild. The Stars had the special teams edge on both ends and the Wild played a physical style of hockey that lent itself to taking a lot of penalties — they were the seventh-highest penalized team in the regular season. If the series against the Kraken turns into a special teams battle, it will once again severely favor the Stars. In the regular season, Seattle had the No. 21 power play and the No. 21 penalty kill in the NHL. The Stars were No. 5 and No. 3, respectively.

Unfortunately for the Stars, they can’t count on a special teams contest in this round. Seattle took the 12th-fewest penalties in the regular season and by penalties taken per 60 minutes, the Kraken have been the most disciplined team in the NHL this postseason. That means the Stars are going to have to win this series five-on-five, which they should certainly be capable of. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Stars were a top-10 team in the NHL in expected goals percentage at five-on-five during the regular season, checking in at No. 10. However, Seattle was not far behind at No. 12.

As the Kraken showed in their victory over the Avalanche in the first round, they can get contributions from up and down the lineup and have a stellar presence in net with Philipp Grubauer. It’s not terribly unlike the outlook the Stars have themselves, though Dallas’ high-end players rate higher than Seattle’s, from the forwards to the defensemen to the goaltender. In other words, on paper, the Stars enter this series a better version of what the Kraken are.

Games are won on the ice, though, not on paper. Given the nature and style of what this series should be like, this round has a great chance at being Robertson’s coming out party at five-on-five in the playoffs. In fact, this series should favor a lot of the younger players, including Harley and Johnston as well. The Stars’ special teams is a great weapon for the team but they need to enter this series expecting to win at five-on-five.

(Photo of Joe Pavelski: Jerome Miron / USA Today)