Sometimes, Jason Dickinson will grab an iPad on the team plane after a game. Other times, he’ll pull a chair up to a mounted television at the Stars’ practice facility in Frisco. Either way, the objective is the same: rewatch his shifts from the previous game.

Dickinson can go unnoticed to casual hockey fans. He’s a fourth-line center — and occasional top-six winger — who is among the team’s best at killing penalties and shutting down top opponents with his speed and smarts. He’s a former first-round pick who has become a reliable everyday player in Dallas, not with his offense but with his responsible defense.

Dickinson leads all Stars forwards by averaging 2:17 of shorthanded time on ice per game and primarily kills alongside Blake Comeau, but also partners with different players based on faceoffs.

Last week, before the Stars went 3-1-0 on a West Coast road trip, Dickinson sat down with The Dallas Morning News to review his shifts from the Stars’ 4-1 win over Detroit. In that game, Dickinson played 15:31 across 21 shifts, including 4:44 on the penalty kill, the most among Stars forwards against the Red Wings.

Dickinson prefers to watch the overhead view of the game rather than the broadcast version of it, since he can see more of the play, including what his linemates are doing on the ice. But that view isn’t publically available.

Detroit also offered different challenges to Dickinson since they are not a familiar opponent like, say, Colorado or Edmonton.

“If I was to pull up an Edmonton, I’d be able to tell you much easier ‘This is what I’m thinking. This is what I know they’re going to do. This is what I think they’re going to do. This is what my read is,’” Dickinson said. “Against Detroit, it was just go out and play.”

Penalty killing

Shift 3, first period, 35 seconds

Dickinson lines up as a wing as Tyler Seguin takes the faceoff. Before the puck is dropped, he points out that the one-timer opportunity is closer to the blue line than usual with Adam Erne at the point. With a left-handed center in Valtteri Filppula, the puck would have to go to the boards before it reaches the left-handed Erne.

“I can get a little bump on [Givani] Smith in the middle to give Esa [Lindell] enough time to get it down if we win the faceoff,” Dickinson said. “Because the one-timer is high, I’ve got enough time where I can spin off Smith and get in the lane for a quick one-timer if that’s the play they go with.”

The Red Wings win the draw, but it’s a slow-developing play to get the puck to Erne, allowing Seguin and Dickinson to get into position. The Stars penalty kill unit has two main objectives: push the puck down the wall and prevent seam passes.

That’s why the routes forwards take to pressure the puck on the penalty kill start high to prevent a pass back to the point and limit options for the power play. Once the puck moves from the boards, the pressuring forward retreats to the middle to take away the seam pass.

In this clip, Seguin pressures initially, the puck get sent back up top, leaving Dickinson to cut off any other passes, particularly to the weakside, where Frans Nielsen is stationed. He breaks up the play and gets a clear down the ice.

“I know the guy is wide,” Dickinson said. “I want to get my stick and feet in the lane because I don’t know exactly where he is. Like I can’t say with pinpoint accuracy ‘He’s here.’ So I’m just thinking ‘If my feet are in this lane and I’m making them as wide as possible by turning them sideways, then I’ve got a chance of it hitting my skates or my stick.' Sure enough, it hit my skate and went out.”

Shift 4, first period, one minute and two seconds

After a zone entry by Detroit, Dickinson pressures Smith down the wall, but the puck is pushed back to the point for Mike Green. At this point, Dickinson retreats to the middle and then latches on to Justin Abdelkader in the slot as the puck is sent to the left flank.

Instead, the puck is sent across the slot to Filppula, who sets up Green for a one-timer that rings the post.

“This is a good play by them,” Dickinson said. “They caught me sleeping. I didn’t get back in my seam lane quick enough, and they caught me.”

The Red Wings recover the loose puck, and the pressure rotation begins again. This time, with the puck on the right flank, Dickinson plays off Abdelkader since he is a left-handed shot facing away from the net.

“I know he’s a bumper there, but he’s not a shooting threat, so I’m going to play off of him, let him play it up top so then I can get out in a lane and take away any other option for him,” Dickinson said.

The Wings retrieve the puck a few more times but are largely kept to the perimeter until they try another seam pass from the left dot to the right dot for Filppula. This time, Dickinson has learned. He breaks up the play and clears the puck.

“Now I’ve taken away the seam because I’ve remembered it from last time and down the ice,” Dickinson said.

Shift 8, second period, 20 seconds

Dickinson is back with Comeau, and Comeau decides to flush the puck out from behind Detroit’s net, leaving Dickinson to disrupt the zone entry and defend the middle of the ice as Dylan Larkin carries the puck.

“I’m thinking that I’ve got to take away the middle so that he can’t cut to the middle or throw a backhand pass to the middle,” Dickinson said. “I wasn’t 100% sure if Comeau was back yet, so I’m trying to take away his options without giving myself up.”

When killing penalties, teams have to give up shots from certain areas. It’s just not realistic to expect to shut down all threats with one fewer player on the ice. In this case, the Stars choose to give up a one-timer from the top of the circle from Filip Hronek that goalie Anton Khudobin easily reads.

“High one-timer like this, it’s not [Alex] Ovechkin or [Patrik] Laine,” Dickinson said. “We’re not too, too worried.”

Shift 9, second period, 40 seconds

The Stars disrupt the zone entry and all four Dallas skaters touch the puck before they carry it out of their own end to safety. Comeau and Dickinson head up ice on a 2 on 2 that would normally result in Dickinson driving the net for either a pass or rebound from Comeau.

But with the penalty winding down, Dickinson chooses a route close to Comeau that allows Comeau to change and Dickinson to kill time.

“Normally, I would take the middle bit because they’ve got numbers back and we’re on the PK, I know he’s going to do a simple play and up the wall is the easiest and probably smartest play at that point,” Dickinson said.

Shift 10, second period, one minute and three seconds

This time, Dickinson recognizes the Red Wings are cutting their routes short breaking out of their own end in an attempt to move the puck up quicker and cleaner.

“Normally, they were cutting really low into the corners to pick up speed, but this time, he cuts at the dots,” Dickinson said. “At the dot, he thinks he’s got his speed but Comeau did a good job of cutting it off.”

As the Red Wings regroup and Larkin carries the puck, Dickinson stays higher in the neutral zone to prevent against Detroit cutting their routes short again.

“Because I was worried about the cutting the routes short again, I’m just staying above and thinking ‘I don’t want to get caught,’” Dickinson said.

Even strength

Shift 1, first period, 47 seconds

Dickinson’s first shift of the night comes after the Stars were called offside and he loses a faceoff to Filppula. Earlier in the day, the Stars’ scouting report on the Red Wings said that either the winger or center will cut to the middle on a won faceoff in the neutral zone. So that’s where Dickinson goes to defend.

Then, it becomes about supporting the puck and trying to break out of his own end.

“I should have dropped into this corner, but back here, I’m thinking I can run a little interference on the forechecker so that Andrej has a little bit more time to make a play,” Dickinson said. “I’m trying to decide, as I’m coming in, do I want him to reverse the puck to me or do I want him to rim it around to Jany. At this point, I realize that both their forwards came down on us, so I was just saying rim, rim, rim.”

After the Stars exit but fail to possess the puck in the offensive zone, they’re back defending in their own end. Here’s where a new player like Joel Kiviranta — making his NHL debut against Detroit — can show his unfamiliarity with the team.

The way Dallas wants to play defense, Kiviranta should follow the cutting Filppula instead of defending the point like a typical wing would. Filppula gets a low-danger shot off, but is blocked away by Roman Polak.

Shift 12, second period, 36 seconds

This is an example of how the Stars set up their neutral-zone forecheck, which can often look like a 1-2-2 or a 2-1-2. As Patrik Nemeth carries the puck in his own zone, it’s Kiviranta’s job to cut the ice in half and force Nemeth to either go up the boards or across to Hronek, his defense partner.

Once the pass reaches Hronek, that’s Dickinson cue.

“I’m yelling to him to get up and forecheck and cut him off, cut his angle,” Dickinson said. “And then once they go D to D, I know my route is to jump at him. Then I just try to get a stick in a lane, reading his eyes, reading his stick.”

Dickinson breaks up the pass and then gets the puck in deep, setting up more forechecking. Kiviranta pressures the puck, Mattias Janmark goes to the wall on the strongside and Dickinson fills in the middle of the ice to stop a center from coming through as an option.

Janmark cuts off the play and the line goes to work with extended zone time that finishes with Polak’s shot from the point.

Shift 17, third period, 48 seconds

In transition, the Stars try to fill in all three lanes on the ice, meaning there’s a forward on both wings and down the middle. In this case, Janmark is on the left wing and Kiviranta fills the middle, leaving Dickinson to take the right side and wait for a pass from Miro Heiskanen.

“Sure enough, Miro throws it over there,” Dickinson said. “Now, I’m looking at his stick, looking at his feet, the distance I am from him and what I can do. So I stop up behind and cut back. I realized after I make that move that my d-men are off the ice. I don’t have an option up high, so now I’m thinking I’ve got to buy time, wait for them to come in. I’m looking for [Fedun] to come down the wall here because I feel like we got separation.”

Instead of Fedun going down the wall, himself, Dickinson and Andrej Sekera end up in similar areas of the ice and Dickinson tries to get the puck deep, but the Red Wings exit.