Big Benn chimes in quietly

Jamie Benn sat at his locker after Monday's practice, turned his ballcap backward and waited for reporters to start asking about just the second trip to the playoffs for the Dallas captain.

The answers were short and delivered in a soft tone that doesn't change much. Same old Benn - although he's willing to acknowledge that he's growing more comfortable with everything that accompanies wearing the "C."

It's showing on the ice for the Stars, who enter the playoffs as the top seed in the Western Conference for the first time in 13 years, when Mike Modano was the face of hockey in a southern city still relatively new to the sport.