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Top-heavy lineup nothing new for Stars' Spezza

Jerome Miron / USA TODAY Sports

Skating with star players is old hat for Jason Spezza.

The Dallas Stars center finds himself on a line with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn these days after an injury to second-year forward Valeri Nichushkin.

While there's always some measure of risk involved in stacking one line with top-level talent, Spezza said it's something he's used to from his days with the Ottawa Senators.

"Hey, me, Heater (Dany Heatley) and Alfie (Daniel Alfredsson) played together in Ottawa and we got to the Stanley Cup Final and had a great regular season," Spezza told NHL.com on Monday. "If you can find a way to win games you might as well use it."

In Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers - Spezza's first full contest on the top line - the trio combined for nine points, albeit in a 6-5 overtime loss. 

The line is expected to remain intact for Tuesday's game against the Vancouver Canucks, and while Spezza's unsure how long the triumvirate will last, he expects them to keep rolling.

"We use each other well," Spezza said. "We all have pretty good hockey IQs and we can share the puck around and we're three guys who can make plays. We try to give each other space on the ice and really spread the rink on teams. If we stay together that's what we'll try to do, use our skills together. And we're all a little bit different. It worked for a night and we'll see where it goes."

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