NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ During the second period of the Stars' 5-3 win over Nashville on Saturday in Game 5 of their first-round series, Jamie Benn was faced with a choice. A loose puck drifted away from him and beneath the Nashville goalline. Ryan Ellis represented the only obstacle in Benn's way.
Benn could try to fish the puck out of the corner or bump Ellis up against the boards. Benn's choice? To turn Ellis into a 5-foot-10, 180-pound hood ornament, disposing of Ellis before the two players met the puck, and sending Ellis from in the play to out of it in an instant with a heavy shove aside.
Benn easily slid a backhand pass to Alexander Radulov in the slot for Radulov's second goal of the game.
"It's a race for the puck," Benn said. "You just want to do whatever you can to get that puck. I heard those guys calling behind me way before I had the puck because they always want the puck. Just found a way to get it to Rads there and he made a great shot."
Tyler Seguin said: "He can put some fear in some guys' eyes out there. When he's on the forecheck, you saw a couple of those goals, not many players want to go get the puck with him going in the corner. I wouldn't. He's a big boy and he's working hard for us and leading the way."
Benn's effort led the Stars' top line to a superb game in a victory that put Dallas up 3-2 in the best-of-7 series with Nashville, with a chance to eliminate the Predators on Monday night at the American Airlines Center.
Benn had three assists. Radulov had two goals. Seguin had a goal and an assist.
It's no secret that Benn-Seguin-Radulov form one of the league's most dynamic lines. They bring the power of Benn, the shot of Seguin and the relentlessness of Radulov. They can take over games and often did when put together this season, but hadn't shown the type of dominance they displayed on Saturday afternoon.
In the first period, Benn-Seguin-Radulov outshot the entire Predators roster, 10-9. In the second period, Seguin threaded a pass to Radulov on the backdoor to take advantage of a Nashville giveaway by Mattias Ekholm.
"It's just instincts," Seguin said. "You kind of know where he's going. I haven't seen the replay. (Ryan) Johansen was coming on me quick and tried to find him. I told him when he got back to the bench he didn't have to put it bar down. He could have just put it in the middle of the net. He didn't have to worry me like that."
Then came Benn's transformation of Ellis from a defenseman to a nuisance. And Seguin's five-hole finish off the rush after Filip Forsberg left Seguin unchecked in the middle of the ice.
According to Natural Stat Trick, as a line at 5-on-5, Benn-Seguin-Radulov played 12:30 together on Saturday, with more shot attempts (21-15), shots on goal (13-9), scoring chances (15-10), high-danger chances (8-3) and goals (3-0) than Nashville.
"They drove play all the time and they wanted more ice time," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "A couple times Jamie was banging his stick and looking at me. They wanted it. They felt it and they were playing well."
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette opted to match up Benn-Seguin-Radulov with his own top line of Forsberg, Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson, a struggling unit that had just one goal and one assist entering Game 5. On Saturday afternoon, they were shown up again despite Johansen's first goal of the series.
"Our first line is a line that we trust and we count on," Laviolette said.
For Montgomery, he also has a luxury he wasn't given for most of the season: the emergence of a true second line. Jason Dickinson, Roope Hintz and Mats Zuccarello have combined for seven goals this series _ including two from Dickinson on Saturday _ to provide a secondary scoring option.
With a potent second line, Montgomery can load up the top line and trust that he's not losing his scoring punch down the lineup.
"For sure, but I like mixing and matching those top six right now because depending on home, away," Montgomery said. "But if that top line's going to play like that, I'm not going to outsmart myself."
Now, the Stars' top line can help finish the Predators on Monday night in Game 6.
"Our line's all about work," Seguin said. "It's about will. Obviously, we have the skill and the talent there. But when we're working hard, we're happy to go up against anybody. They're a good team. They had some good pushback tonight. I thought their goalie still played really good, especially early on. It's going to be a really hard game to try to win on home ice Monday."
