Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn is The Dallas Express Athlete of the Week.
Benn had been riding a hot streak into Friday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, with at least one point in 11 of his last 14 games, and followed it with a two-point performance as the Stars picked up a 4-2 win.
“I thought Benner was great,” head coach Pete DeBoer told the media postgame. “We got through the first, and we just talked about getting more engaged in the game physically, and he went out in the second period and, I thought, did that. That’s leadership. That’s him leading the way and showing the group and dragging the group into that part of the game, which is importnat as we’re going forward.”
In a 1-1 game, Benn scored twice in the second period — striking first on the power play as he ripped a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle past Tristan Jarry and added another on an odd-man rush 1:18 later to give Dallas a 3-1 lead. It was his 46th career multi-goal game — one behind Bill Goldsworthy for the fifth-most in franchise history.
Benn now has 48 points (15 goals and 33 assists) on the season.
“I’m just trying to do my part,” Benn said after Friday’s win. “I feel like, since Logan [Stankoven] got here, we’ve been building good chemistry with him, me, and [Wyatt Johnston], and we’re just trying to do our part for this group.”
The 15-year veteran who has spent his entire NHL career in Dallas also skated in his 1,100th NHL game during Wednesday’s win over the Arizona Coyotes, becoming just the second Stars player to do so.
The other, longtime captain and Stanley Cup Champion Mike Modano, was rightfully rewarded with a statue outside the American Airlines Center last weekend.
Benn and the Stars (43-19-9) will return to the ice on Sunday against Arizona (28-36-5) as they begin a four-game West Coast road trip. The Stars will be back on home ice against the Edmonton Oilers (42-21-4) at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3 — one of five remaining home games in the regular season.