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Stars look to flip the switch in a ‘do or die’ round robin finale vs. the Blues

The winner will earn the No. 3 seed in the West and play No. 8 Calgary in the first round.

The Stars will try to locate their switch Sunday, when they finish the Western Conference’s round-robin tournament against the St. Louis Blues.

Dallas is winless in two round-robin games, surrendering a two-goal third-period lead against Vegas on Monday before being blown out Wednesday by Colorado. St. Louis is also 0-2-0 in the round robin, setting up clear consequences of Sunday’s game.

The winner will earn the No. 3 seed in the West and play No. 8 Calgary in the first round. The loser will drop to No. 4 and face No. 7 Vancouver in the first round.

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Regardless of the first-round ramifications, the Stars could use some positive momentum entering the elimination rounds of the postseason. The team has not won a game since Feb. 25, a stretch that included a six-game losing streak at the end of the regular season, a 20-week break because of the coronavirus pandemic, an exhibition loss to Nashville and a pair of round-robin losses.

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Each of the last nine times the Stars took the ice, they lost.

“I think our mind-set this last game is trying to approach it like it is a do-or-die,” forward Blake Comeau said. “It’s time for our team to play the way we know to play to give us success. We want to go in, when we do start our playoff series, feeling good about where we’re at.”

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An easy rationalization for why the Stars have stumbled is that the intensity of round-robin games pales in comparison to normal playoff games (never mind that the other team has to play in the same circumstances).

Interim coach Rick Bowness was asked about the intensity difference between the qualifying series and the round-robin games and pleaded for his team to ratchet it up.

“It’s not September where you can just lollygag through a couple of exhibition games and find your game,” Bowness said. “We’ve been preaching that since Day 1. The play-in series are very intense, they’re very, very physical. They’re in each other’s faces, and that’s every shift.

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“That’s what we’re going to see when we enter the playoffs. We’re trying to prepare our players that this is coming. We have to prepare now. We can’t just flip a switch when the first game of the playoffs comes along and say, ‘OK, now we’re intense. Now, we’re ready to go.’ That’s not good enough.”

Like the regular season, the Stars have struggled to score goals in Edmonton. They have been held scoreless in eight of the nine periods during the return to play. In order to manufacture some offense, Bowness switched lines during practice Friday, reuniting Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov. Denis Gurianov joined Mattias Janmark and Joe Pavelski.

Benn-Seguin-Radulov has been one of the best lines in the league in the last three seasons, and that line has come together at a time when Benn and Seguin have struggled to generate offensive-zone time and scoring opportunities. None of the three has scored in the postseason, but they have positive possession metrics in the last three seasons and the Stars have outscored teams 78-43 at 5 on 5 with them on the ice.

“When you’re not scoring goals, you have to mix it up a little bit,” Bowness said. “The chemistry, we’re hoping they find it again. They didn’t have it earlier. Let’s try it again.”

Bowness said he kept Gurianov and Roope Hintz on separate lines to try to spread speed throughout the lineup. He also kept open the possibility of Hintz and Gurianov playing again with Jason Dickinson.

“We may end up with that again at some point,” Bowness said.

Briefly: Bowness said goaltender Ben Bishop finished practice Saturday, and the team would see how he feels Sunday. Bishop did not play Wednesday against Colorado, when he was deemed “unfit to play.”

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