Boston Bruins v Dallas Stars: The Bruins Cannot Focus On Tyler Seguin Tonight If They Want To Win

Tyler Seguin has now played more games with the Dallas Stars than he has with the Boston Bruins.

That's a surprising statistic when you look at the media, given that the talk once again appears to be all about THAT trade ahead of the match tonight, and probably will be for the rest of his career whenever the two teams meet.

You can't blame the Bruins for focusing on their former player as a dangerman. After all, he's the Stars' leading goalscorer with 31 in 59 games, and is one point behind linemate Jamie Benn for the team point-scoring lead (at 65 points that's also good enough for third in the NHL).

But the Stars are a far deeper team than their top line of Benn, Seguin and Sharp, even though that trio have scored nearly 100 goals between them. Currently leading the Western Conference, the Stars have the kind of depth most teams would envy - they can roll three lines that would probably at least have a shot of being the top line on many other NHL teams.

Let's look at Sharp, for example. He's often slightly overlooked this season as he's "only" got 42 points (16+26) while playing on a line with Benn and Seguin. However, he's a proven NHL goalscorer with a lethal wrister who is in the middle of a scoring funk - the worst possible opponent for a Bruins defense with a history of charity to be facing. Sharp will be coming into tonight's game likely licking his lips at the possiblity of breaking his slump while facing the likes of Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid...whose lack of mobility and positional sense could be cruelly exposed.

Then we move to Dallas' second line. Antoine Roussel, Jason Spezza and Cody Eakin are not the most glamorous unit, but they are very effective. Follow that up with a run of players like Val Nicushkin and Ales Hemsky and you have a very deep forward corps indeed.

Then there's the offensive threat from the blueline in Dallas. John Klingberg is another example of the Swedish propensity for lethal offensive defensemen - with 48 points he can effectively act as a fourth forward when the likes of Seguin and Benn are pushing back the opposition - and given time and space by teams focusing on those dangerous forwards he loves to punish them.

Even the Srars' fourth line is dangerous. The B's fourth line of Talbot, Ferraro, Randell has scored ten goals this season. The Stars trio of Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Eaves and Colton Scievour has scored...19. That's nearly double the production.

This is a team that's far more than Tyler Seguin, although you wouldn't know it from the media focus.

The Bruins need to look far beyond Seguin and even the top line, and look for the weak spots in a Stars team that is coming off a loss to Arizona. Weak spots like the fact they have a propensity for giving up shorthanded goals while the Bruins have a propensity for scoring them.

The Stars are also a team whose goalies are occasionally a little flaky. Kari Lehtonen looks like he'll be the player getting the start tonight, and if the Bruins can find a way past him early they might profit.

The Stars themselves are prone to take the odd night off - it's something that Jamie Benn has acknowledged as captain himself. The Bruins need to sense this early and take advantage quickly - but their first priority should be playing the same whoever is on the ice. Essentially, they need to treat every Stars shift as if it's Sharp, Benn and Seguin.

And treat every Star the same, even if the media do not.