"It's real simple: just trust our work. Let the skill take us from there but trust the work," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "We are starting to do that more and more now. We had 40 great minutes against Tampa Bay, we had 55 great minutes against Colorado. It's getting better and better. If we trust our work, we've got enough skill to win hockey games. We just look like we are mentally ready to win now; we're ready to win in anybody's building."
Hitchcock said it doesn't have anything to do with home or road, but with consistency. But the records are what they are, and the Stars have done the job at home, where they are 9-2-0, and fallen short on the road.
"It's more mental than anything right now," said Stars center Jason Spezza. "It's important to get this road trip off on the right note and start with a win. There's no doubt we need to play with the lead a little more on the road, there are some things Hitch has talked about we can do better. It's the same game, we've just been a little inconsistent with our effort."
The Stars have played well in stretches in games on the road, but they've struggled to handle big pushes by the home team, and they've tried to do too much too quickly to catch up instead of being patient. And that's exacerbated problems and led to games getting away from them.
"A lot of it has to do with our mindset. We need to play like we do at home. We know how we can play," said center Tyler Seguin. "A lot of it is that emotion. On the road when we get uncomfortable we kind of shy away and when we are at home we are always comfortable, and that's why we play the way we do. When we get uncomfortable on the road we need to raise our level more, compete more."
