Can the play of one player become contagious?

The Stars might be finding out.

Dallas acquired defenseman Kris Russell on Feb. 29 in a trade with the Calgary Flames. Russell has been a league leader in blocked shots for the past three seasons, and continues on that pace this year, ranking second with 204 in 60 games. His blocks per game total of 3.4 leads the league.

Since joining the Stars, Russell has held steady with 30 blocks in nine games (3.3 per game), but the Stars have exceeded their average of 15.0 per game in recent performances. On Thursday, Dallas registered 20 blocked shots. On Saturday, the Stars had 26.

"I think it really is a team effort, where it gets contagious when you see guys that don't normally block shots give up their body and block a shot," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said, singling out Colton Sceviour, Ales Hemsky and Valeri Nichushkin. "It isn't your typical guys who lay their body out; and when that happens, it's a great thing for a club. The guys get up on the bench and some of those blocked shots are just like scoring a goal."

Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen registered his second shutout of the season Saturday, and said the blocked shots were noticeable.

"It all starts from starting and stopping in our own end and not curling away," Lehtonen said. "We are doing the hard work, and that's how our guys are in the right position in the shooting lanes. It's really nice for the goalies."

Russell is simply playing his same game, but the Stars seem to be catching on.

Twitter: @MikeHeika