What to watch for as Stars return from break to face Avs

The Dallas Stars return from their bye "week" (okay, it's five days off, not a week. But "bye week" sounds better) to face a red-hot Colorado Avalanche team in what will be the fifth and final clash of the season between division foes.
Here's what to watch for tonight.

Which team comes back?

The NHL wisely altered the schedule this season to ensure that teams coming off their bye period played other teams that were likewise coming off the break. That should help correct what many coaches believed was a competitive disadvantage for those teams coming off the break which were having to play against teams already in a playing groove.
Tonight, the Stars and Avs will both face the challenge of getting back up to game speed after a long layoff.
Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock has said in the past that his group sometimes struggles to get into a groove after taking a day, or days, off. So, it will be interesting to see if that pattern holds true, or if the Stars can jump right back to the rhythm that saw them go 6-2-0 in the eight games before the bye -- including back-to-back wins over New Jersey and Edmonton.
"I think you've got to get your work ethic out early, and whatever team seems to do that wins the hockey games," Hitchcock said. "This is not a lot different than starting a regular season, where you go from exhibition games -- which is at one pace -- and then all of a sudden you hit the ground running on a league game. And this is very similar."

Can the Stars keep humming?

At the break, the Stars were playing as well as they had all season, and their 5-on-5 play -- as reflected by advanced stats compiled by the league -- had them in the top 10 in the NHL.
A major reason for that is that their best players were, likewise, playing at a high level (funny how that works, no?). Specifically, Ben Bishop has found a nice groove, and he'll start his 11th straight game for the Stars against Colorado. He is 4-1 in his last five and has provided consistent quality starts for most of this stretch of prolonged play.
"Both teams are in the same boat, so there's really no excuse except for, maybe, both teams are going to be in a feel-out process in that first 20," Bishop said. "It's going to be important as far as trying to get your senses back as far as team play, kind of get that hit, get that bump."
Alexander Radulov has been cooking, regardless of who he plays, with and has back-to-back three-point games. Tyler Seguin has surged to the top of the team scoring list with 21 goals and 40 points. He's collected points in seven of eight games.
John Klingberg, who will join Seguin in Tampa later this month at the NHL's annual All Star Weekend, continues to lead all NHL defenders, even with taking most of a week off, with 39 points -- four more than Washington's John Carlson. Klingberg is currently on a five-game point streak.
Hitchcock saw a matchup against Edmonton he could exploit and reunited Radulov, Seguin and captain Jamie Benn, who has points in eight of his last nine games, and the trio scored three dynamic goals in less than half a period to give the Stars a 3-0 first-period lead en route to a 5-1 win in their finale before the break.
That big line looks to stay together at least to start Saturday's contest, and needless to say, a continuation of that kind of production from those key players will have much to say about whether the Stars can rediscover their pre-bye mojo quickly or not.

Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear

Yes, it's a bit of a surprise that no teams overtook the Stars and their standing as the first wild card team in the Western Conference while they were doing chores around the house, or playing golf in Cabo. But the urgency to get back to a high level of play should be easy to come by.
With Chicago beating Winnipeg Friday night, the Blackhawks jumped back into the second wild-card spot -- one point back of Dallas. They're tied with Minnesota at 50 points. So if you're the Stars, do you look over your shoulder and worry, or do you look above you and realize that after the bye week, you are four points back of third-place St. Louis with three games in hand?
The other crucial element to Saturday's game is that is marks the end of a stretch where they played nine of 10 games at home. Sunday, the Stars fly east and will play Boston on Monday at noon in a Martin Luther King Day matinee, and then visit Detroit, Columbus and Buffalo before returning home.
What is the old saying? Make hay while the sun shines. Regardless, Hitchcock believes it's best to face forward.
"Well, I just don't think you can play looking behind right now, because there's too many teams catching up," Hitchcock said. "I just don't think you can behind, or over your shoulder. I think you've got to look ahead, because when you're looking over your shoulder, you've got 10 teams fighting for two spots. That's too many; too many things can happen.
"I think the reality, however, is in order to get in the playoffs, there might be five 100-point teams in the Central, which is just incredible. That means we're going to have to play even better than we played in the first half, but I think our guys our up for that task. We'll see, but I think our guys are up for it."

Don't look now, but here come the Avs

The Avalanche are on fire. And if it weren't for the perpetual magic the Vegas Golden Knights are weaving in their first season, the Avs might be thestory of the Western Conference -- maybe the entire league.
Picked to be a draft lottery team by almost everyone at the start of the season, the Avs rode out the early-season distraction of what would happen with Matt Duchene, and following his trade to Ottawa, the Avs have played their best hockey of the season.
They come into Dallas riding a five-game win streak and are 10-3-1 in their last 14 most that without starting netminder Semyon Varlamov, who has a lower body injury that is going to keep him out of action for the foreseeable future. That means Jonathan Bernier, who shut out the Stars earlier in the season (and also got yanked early in the last meeting between the two teams, a 7-2 Dallas win) will be the man to keep the Avs' surprising playoff hopes alive.
He's 4-0 in his last four games with a .959 save percentage.
The Avalanche are three points back of Chicago with three games in hand heading into Saturday's action. They've been led by Nathan MacKinnon, who has returned to form after a difficult couple of seasons. The once-upon-a-time first-overall pick is tied for second in NHL scoring with 52 points -- although he's played fewer games than his competitors.
If the Avs do make the playoffs, you can rest assured MacKinnon will get some Hart Trophy love as league MVP.
"They've got a real team going right now," Hitchcock said. "They've kind of gone from this rush attack team to a team that's willing to work for their scoring chances. It's impressive. They've beat good teams and they've beat good teams handily. That isn't an accident. That's pretty impressive."

A special time

Hitchcock often says that on the road, it often comes down to winning the special-teams battle. So the Stars might do well to get their special-teams game ramped up with this home tilt.
The Stars are 1-for-6 with the man advantage in their last three games, and that includes a game against Columbus in which they received no power-play chances, which speaks to the need to keep the feet moving because fast, hard-working players inevitably draw the most penalties.
In the previous six games before that, however, the team registered a single power-play goal in each contest.
The penalty kill allowed three opposing power-play goals in the last two games, although it clearly did not have an impact on the outcome with Dallas winning both those games. They had shut down opposing power-play units in three straight games prior to that -- a reflection, no doubt, of the return of Martin Hanzal to the lineup.
The Avs, meanwhile, are 7-for-17 during their five-game win streak and killed 14 of 16 power-play opportunities they've faced during the streak.
In short, the Stars are going to have to up the ante when it comes to special teams if they're going to prevail.
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. You can follow Scott on Twitter at @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his Burnside Chats podcast here.