Stars, Lightning armed with defensemen who can score

Thiswas already going to be an unusual Stanley Cup, which opened Saturday, and it now has a matchup for all of those who like their games to be a bit defensive.

The Stars and Lightning, two of the league’s southernmost teams playing for the title in a bubble in the NHL’s northernmost arena in Edmonton, have defensemen who provide plenty of points.

Is that defensive offense or offensive defense? Either way, they’ve done that and also been pretty good at what blue line players are primarily expected to do in shutting down the opponent.

“In today’s NHL you need that for your team to be successful,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “You need that secondwave of players joining the rush.”

Lightnings veteran Victor Hedman, a fourth-time finalist for the Norris Trophy that goes to the league’s best all-around defenseman, is scoring postseason goals at a record pace. The Stars have Miro Heiskanen, who at barely 21 is the highest-scoring defenseman ever in a postseason for his franchise.

“We’re not surprised,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. “Let Miro be Miro, and he’s going to take over games.”

Only Lightning forwards Nikita Kucherov (26 points) and Brayden Point (25 points), and Colorado center Nathan McKinnon (25 points), have more postseason points than the 22 by Heiskanen, the third overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Heiskanen and Klingberg have outpointed some standout teammates.

“It’s way easier to play with with five guys on the ice than three or two,” Heiskanen said.