Practice journal: Confident Stars look to keep rolling at home

Fresh off a four-game road trip where they picked up seven of a possible eight points by going 3-0-1, the Dallas Stars will look to keep rolling as they return home for two games before the All-Star break.

They'll take on Florida Tuesday and then Toronto on Thursday before the league takes some time off for the All-Star Game in Tampa.
The Stars are on a nice run with a 5-1-1 record over their last seven games and a 9-3-1 mark over the last 13. Confidence is high.
"We're confident in the way we're playing and when we play the right way we believe we can win," said captain Jamie Benn.
The Stars allowed just six goals during the four-game road trip. They've allowed just 25 over the last 13 games for a goals against average of 1.92 (excluding shootout goals). Their 5-on-5 goals against average per 60 minutes over the last 13 games is 1.53, which ranks third best in the NHL. And the offense hasn't suffered. The Stars are averaging 3.46 goals per game over the last 13, and they rank fifth in the league in 5-on-5 goals per 60 minutes during that stretch at 2.86.

"When you restrict the other team's ability to have offensive abilities, you get chances yourself," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "But it is a tough sell. It's not an easy thing to sell, and it's an even harder thing to maintain, kind of checking for chances or basing your foundation on proper positional play defensively so you can create offense. It's a tough sell and harder to maintain in this day and age because it doesn't produce points people normally get, but it leads to wins.
"We started to buy into that a little while ago, and we've stayed on task."
If you tack on a couple of overtime losses in the two games before that 9-3-1 run, the Stars have points in 12 of their last 15 games (9-3-3). But despite the strong record, movement in the standings has been slow. The Stars are still in the first wild-card spot in the West. They have moved to within one point of third place in the Central Division, but there are three teams three points behind them in the wild-card chase including division foes Colorado, which has won nine straight games, and Minnesota, which is 7-2-2 in its last 11 games.
So, there is little room to breathe, and the Stars need to make the most of this upcoming stretch of home games.
"We're all aware of what Colorado is doing and what the teams in our division are doing," said Benn. "We've been playing some pretty good hockey and 12 of the last 15 we've got points, but it seems like we're not moving too much. We are well aware of where we are and where we sit and that we've got to play good hockey here and move up the standings."

Hanzal day-to-day; Methot to resume skating

Stars center Martin Hanzal, who left Saturday's game in Buffalo with a pulled muscle, did not practice Monday and is listed as day to day.
"We've just got to take him into every day and see where he is," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "He didn't finish the game, he didn't practice today, and we are just going to evaluate it day to day. If we are not 100 percent sure he can play one of the next two games, then we'll probably have to look at bringing somebody in as a depth player."
The Stars made the decision to call up a forward late Monday afternoon,
recalling center/left wing Jason Dickinson from the Texas Stars of the AHL
.
Hitchcock said Hanzal, who has missed 15 games due to injury, may not be 100 percent healthy this season.
"At 70 or 80 percent, he's a hell of a player. At 100 percent, he's a great player," Hitchcock said. "So, we've got to get him to where he's comfortable, and we're comfortable."
Defenseman Marc Methot, who is out with a knee injury, is expected to start skating later this week, Hitchcock said.
"He'll be able to skate through the [All-Star] break here, hopefully," Hitchcock said, "and then join us right after the break, whether it is as a full-time player or a practice player. But he's going to start skating towards the end of this week."

Heatherington likely to play again

Defenseman Dillon Heatherington is likely to play a third straight game when the Stars take on Florida. Hitchcock said he expects to rotate Heatherington and Julius Honka until Methot returns.
"We're happy with either guy," Hitchcock said. "Both guys bring different elements, but both guys have been good. We've been happy with both guys. The biggest issue is for Stephen Johns, he goes from the left to the right and back and forth. We'll probably bring Heatherington in tomorrow and go from there."
Ben Bishop will start in goal Tuesday.

Stars practice lineup

Here's how the Stars lined up in practice Monday.
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Gemel Smith - Devin Shore - Brett Ritchie
Remi Elie - Jason Spezza - Mattias Janmark
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Dillon Heatherington - Stephen Johns
Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.