DALLAS _ Lindy Ruff took a big chance Monday.
And it paid off big time
The Stars coach inserted two young defensemen into the lineup and leaned on an inexperienced group of blue liners overall, and he was rewarded with a 3-2 overtime victory against the Minnesota Wild at American Airlines Center.
Jamie Benn scored at 1:23 of overtime off two nice assists from Tyler Seguin and Jordie Benn, and the Stars broke a nine-game run of overtime losses that dated back to last season. The win pushed Dallas to 8-7-5 (21 points) and pushed the Stars above Minnesota (9-7-2, 20 points) in the standings.
But for all the heroics of the captain and goalie Antti Niemi (30 saves), the real story was the NHL debut of defenseman Julius Honka and the trust shown by Ruff in Honka, Esa Lindell and Jamie Oleksiak.
With Johnny Oduya sidelined by a lower body injury and John Klingberg scratched because he missed the team's morning meeting, Ruff decided to go all in on the kids. He scratched Stephen Johns and leaned on Honka (who tallied an assist in 21:01 in time on ice), Oleksiak (who had a goal and a fight in 14:20) and Lindell (who played 21:46).
Honka, 20, was the 14th overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft, so he has a pedigree. He showed that in the third period when he skated down the right wing and flipped a pass to the crease, where Brett Ritchie knocked it in.
It was the first point of Honka's career, a career that many believe will be long and prosperous. Honka is listed at 5-11, 185, but he mixes both speed and skill with a little bit of grit.
"He definitely plays bigger than he is," said Ritchie, who played with Honka on the Texas Stars. "He's strong, strong on his skates. He obviously plays with an edge. But his biggest thing is skating, he can beat guys with his legs. He's got good skill and sees the ice well. He's a guy who instead of making two or three passes, he can just skate it through everyone."
Ruff said he too likes the fact that Honka has some edge to his game. Because he was able to start his AHL career at age 18, he has 157 games of AHL experience and doesn't seem intimidated by bigger, more experienced players.
"He's got a lot of edge to him," Ruff said. "He's got a lot of spark. He's a type of kid who doesn't take anything, he doesn't shy away from the hard stuff in the game. Basically, he plays with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder most of the time."
Oleksiak did the same thing Monday. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound behemoth played in just his sixth game this season and got in a first period fight, which was no surprise. However, he also picked up a goal while trailing the play in the second period, and that was unexpected. It was just the second goal of Oleksiak's 84-game NHL career.
Those two goals held the Stars in a tight game against a Wild team that leads the NHL in goals against average, and helped Dallas get to overtime. That's been a problem this season, as the Stars have yielded goals quickly in the extra period. It looked like that might be the case again as Minnesota broke in on a two-on-one, but Honka broke up the rush, and Dallas raced up ice and scored on Benn's goal.
It was a nice breath of fresh air for a team that has been struggling, but it also might have been a glimpse into the future of a Stars defense group that could quickly be trending young.
"That's a big part of who we want to be," Ruff said of Lindell, 22, and Honka. "A big strong guy that can defend and is mobile, can play the bigger minutes without having any fatigue. And then you have an offensive guy on the other side _ that's exactly where we want to get to. That would be our perfect pair."
