Stars went with a different look against the Mammoth and it paid mighty dividends

January lasted its usual 31 days, even if it felt longer to the Stars and their fans. At least the last week went by a bit more smoothly. The Stars won their fourth straight game Saturday, beating the Mammoth, 3-2, in Salt Lake City. Dallas didn’t provide its most dominant performance, but one of the biggest reasons for the team’s recent resurgence, as tenuous as it may be, continued.

Dallas scored two goals on the power play in its four attempts. Over their last six games - a 5-1-0 stretch - the Stars have gone 8 of 19, holding their status as the second most efficient team on the man-advantage this season. They’ve scored all eight goals over four of those games, getting two in each. And Saturday’s showing was the most impressive of the quartet.

Thomas Harley opened the scoring at the 2:11 mark from an unlikely spot. On the ice with the second-unit powerplay group (Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Mavrik Bourque, and Justin Hryckowian), Harley found himself in the slot, not at his usual spot at the point, which Bourque took. Defensemen rarely occupy that place on the ice. 

Bourque passed to Benn on the right wing near the dot, and the Stars captain floated with the puck back toward the blue line, pulling defenseman Nate Schmidt well out of position in the center of the ice. Benn gave it back to Bourque, who had stayed at the point. With a bit of stick-handling to create space to make space, Bourque flicked the puck toward the net, finding Harley between the circles as the defense deflected the puck toward the net. He had plenty of room as Schmidt was still getting back into position after getting too far out on the wing. Harley’s shot hit the post, bounced right back in front, and he pounced and potted his first power play goal of the season.

The sequence was masterful, not because of anything fancy, but because of the different look. Benn’s intelligence to drag the veteran Schmidt away doesn’t even look impressive from a skill standpoint. It’s a sign, though, that Dallas’ icon has changed his formerly brutish game and leaned more on his experience and IQ. 

Schmidt wasn’t exactly to blame as John Marino sat in the back of the diamond, allowing Schmidt to play a bit further on the wing. But Hryckowian, near the post behind Marino, provided just as much danger, meaning Marino couldn’t slide further up the ice to tie up Harley when the Stars’ d-man collected the pass. Harley’s body already turned more toward the net than Marino’s allowed Harley to get to the loose puck before the Utah defenseman.

In the six games before the recent hot streak, Dallas’ powerplay had been in a 1-for-11 skid. And before going 2 for 3 against Carolina in a 6-3 loss, the Stars had been zero for their previous 10. In other words, things were ugly. Fundamentals with a new recipe livened things up Saturday. And just about 5:32 after Harley’s goal, Wyatt Johnston - the league-leader in power play goals - deflected a Miko Rantanen shot from the point to give the Stars their second on the advantage on the night.

Things aren’t perfect right now for the Stars. They’ve won four straight, yes. All have come by just one goal, including one victory in a shootout, though. Still, given how January began, Dallas has to be feeling much more like its usual self just about a week out from the Olympic break.