Stars’ interim coach Rick Bowness alters offensive strategy in first day of training camp

FRISCO — Stars training camp began Monday the same way the regular season ended four months ago: looking for more offense.

In the team’s first organized practice since March, the Stars and interim head coach Rick Bowness focused on generating offense by preaching speed and support through the neutral zone, with better puck protection and play selection in the offensive zone.

Early in both practice sessions, the Stars ran a drill in which a forward dug the puck from below their own goal line, and a defenseman helped break the puck out and join the rush. Once in the offensive zone, the defenseman was responsible for cycling the puck with another forward.

Getting defensemen more involved will be a big emphasis for the Stars before the postseason begins in August.

“You look at all our goals for and all our best offensive opportunities, it’s been a four-man rush,” Bowness said. “You look around the league, it’s a four-man rush.”

It’s part of the reason why the Stars split up their defensive pairings the way they did on Monday. The team wants their best skating defensemen to join the play as much as possible: Miro Heiskanen can jump up with Jamie Oleksiak behind him, and Stephen Johns can do the same with Andrej Sekera as his partner.

The Stars ranked 26th in the NHL in scoring this season, with 2.58 goals per game.

Sneak peek? These were the lines and pairings for Group 1 on Monday:

Denis Gurianov/Ty Dellandrea – Roope Hintz – Tyler Seguin

Andrew Cogliano – Radek Faksa – Blake Comeau

Nick Caamano – Justin Dowling – Joel Kiviranta

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg

Joel Hanley – Taylor Fedun

Gavin Bayreuther – Thomas Harley

Anton Khudobin

Jake Oettinger

And here is Group 2:

Jamie Benn – Jason Dickinson – Corey Perry

Mattias Janmark – Joe Pavelski – Alexander Radulov

Jason Robertson – Rhett Gardner/Ty Dellandrea – Joel L’Esperance

Jamie Oleksiak – Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera – Stephen Johns

Dillon Heatherington – Gavin Bayreuther

Jake Oettinger

Landon Bow

While the lines and pairings on the first day of training camp can sometimes be short-lived, Bowness said the Stars would like to give them a continued shot during training camp, especially the four lines that are likely to be used when the Stars open the round robin against Vegas on Aug. 3.

Gurianov-Hintz-Seguin

“That’s a very fast line,” Bowness said. “Denis and Roope are having great years, and Seggy. That’s great speed up front. So we want to take a look at it, see what it looks like. We won’t know for a few more days, but what that line has in terms of speed is going to intimidate a lot of teams.”

Benn-Dickinson-Perry

“That’s a big, heavy line,” Bowness said. “Hopefully, they can get the puck in the offensive zone and protect it and spend more time in there.”

Cogliano-Faksa-Comeau

“We know what the Faksy line does,” Bowness said of the team’s defensive specialists.

Janmark-Pavelski-Radulov

“If you look at the analytics, one of our best lines was Janny, Pav and Rads in terms of spending time in the offensive zone and creating offensive chances,” Bowness said.

Power play units: The Stars used the time between the two practice sessions to work on their power play. Assistant coach Derek Laxdal ran the session, and assembled three power play units.

1. John Klingberg, Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov and Jamie Benn.

2. Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Radek Faksa, Denis Gurianov and Corey Perry.

3. Esa Lindell, Stephen Johns, Justin Dowling, Jason Robertson and Mattias Janmark.

All three units worked on a number of breakouts and entries as players shifted around the ice in the offensive zone. Outside of Klingberg and Heiskanen at the point, players were not tied down to specific positions on the ice.

Missing goalies: Only two Stars did not participate in practice on Monday: goaltenders Ben Bishop and Colton Point.

Bishop was working on the ice with goaltending coach Jeff Reese about 25 minutes before practice began on Monday, but did not skate with either group. Bowness said Bishop will practice on Tuesday. Bowness said Point was awaiting a test result before joining the group.

Double duty: Forward Ty Dellandrea and defenseman Gavin Bayreuther practiced in both groups on Monday. Bowness said the Stars wanted to have an even number of players (10 forwards, six defensemen) in each group. Players practicing in both sessions will rotate.

Bowness said forward Joel L’Esperance and defenseman Thomas Harley will do so on Tuesday.

Some rest: The Stars will have three off days penciled into their training camp schedule: Thursday, Sunday and July 23. Bowness said he didn’t want to have the Stars on the ice four straight days, so they will practice a maximum of three consecutive days during training camp.

The Stars fly to Edmonton on July 26.

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