MONTREAL -- Antoine Roussel had finished up a long stretch of interviews in French on Monday and had to hurry to the bus, so the reporter had to keep his English questions short.

"Walking the line?" Roussel was asked quickly.

"Well," Roussel said with a pause, "that's pretty much the question for me my entire career."

Roussel might be putting together his best answer ever this season.

The 26-year-old winger has 11 goals, including a Stars-high six game-winners, and has found the perfect niche for an agitator with skill. He has 23 points and could eclipse his career best of 29 points set in 2013-14. Just as important, he has only 99 penalty minutes, half the 209 he took that season.

"I think I am maybe better, better at reading the game or understanding it," he said. "I've been around a lot, so I think I know where the line is better now."

Roussel can go weeks without a fight now, and when he does brawl, it can be against someone such as Nashville captain Shea Weber. In addition, he's taken his plus-minus rating from minus-20 last season to plus-4 this season. All in all, he's playing a more complete game.

"His discipline has been really good, and yet he still does a really good job of getting underneath people's skin," teammate Jason Spezza said. "It's a tough job, and you have to make tough decisions, and he's been good at that.

"You look at the big fight against Weber ... that made a huge difference in that game. He gives us a jolt of energy, and every team needs that."

(Mobile users: Click here to see Roussel fight Weber.)

Spezza even contends that Team Europe at the World Cup could use Roussel to spice things up in Toronto in September.

"You look at what he brings, and I would definitely say he should be in consideration for Team Europe," Spezza said of the tournament that will bring together the best players in the world. "That wouldn't surprise me at all."

Roussel was born in Roubaix, France, and has competed for France in international competitions, earning a place on the All-Star team at the 2014 World Championships with 11 points in eight games.

He moved to Quebec as a teenager and honed his agitating style there. He battled his way out of junior hockey in Quebec and through the AHL before jumping onto the Stars roster in 2012-13.

Since then, he's been a lineup regular, adding physicality and trying to learn how to not go too far.

"He understands when we need energy. I think he senses that, 'I want to give the team a jump start' in some games," coach Lindy Ruff said. "And I understand that when he takes a penalty, he's trying to help. So the odd roughing penalty, you just have to ignore.

"I would be hard-pressed to find a guy on our team who works harder shift in and shift out."

Ruff has expressed in the past that he gives Roussel a little more leash than other players, because he understands how tough the job is.

"He plays physical, he fights ... fights some of the toughest guys in the league," Ruff said. "So, there's a little give and take as a coach when he does go on the other side of the line."

And as for Roussel, he said all Ruff has to do to get his attention is give him an evil eye.

"I will say that I honestly try hardest to stay on the good side of the line so that I don't [tick] Lindy off," Roussel said. "That's a big motivation for me."

One he seems to be managing pretty well this season.

"I think you get older and you learn," he said. "I have been working at it for a long time, so it's good to be on the good side more often now."

Twitter: @MikeHeika