Stars welcomed back from midseason break with 'hard practice'

The Stars looked a little spent Sunday evening.
Coach Jim Montgomery ran them through a spirited practice in their return from their extended midseason break, and it showed. But with three days to get ready for Wednesday night's home game against the Buffalo Sabres (7:30 p.m. CT; FS-SW+; KTCK), it was the right move.
"That was hard, but it's part of being a professional," said captain Jamie Benn. "We had a week off and we got to enjoy ourselves and regroup mentally and physically, and now we come back and try to get dialed in right away. It was definitely a hard practice, but it was something we deserved."

Montgomery laughed when he evaluated the physical state of his players, many of whom escaped to beaches, golf courses, or brotherhood in a form that didn't include much skating.
"That was a hard practice today, and our guys kept pushing," Montgomery said. "Some of the guys needed to be pushed, because some of the guys enjoyed their break a little more than I would have liked to have seen."
Still, they all were on board with getting back to business. Miro Heiskanen missed the practice because he was flying back from the All-Star Game in San Jose, but he worked out pretty hard the past couple of days. For those who didn't, an exhausting skate was just part of the process.
"You have three days, so that was a heavy workload day, a lot of lactic acid, a lot of pushing on each other," Montgomery said. "You want to have days in-between so the lactic acid is gone and they feel great on Wednesday night."

You also want them on the same page as they enter the final 33 games. Monday is expected to include a team meeting in which players go over not only strategy, but also unity.
"I think we just need to be more consistent," said defenseman Roman Polak. "Everything about our team revolves around consistency. It sounds easy, but it's not that easy. Teams that are truly consistent, they are the ones who can have a long run in the playoffs. That's the difference between a good team and a bad team."
The Stars battled through a 1-5-0 slump and were struggling not only with play, but with confidence and calm as they headed toward the break. They scored just four goals in the five losses, and seemed to get worse with increased effort and pressure. However, they put things together in a 4-2 win over Winnipeg just before the break, and they say that's how they want to play coming out of the break.
Dallas outshot the Jets, 39-29. The Stars had a 72-47 advantage in shot attempts (on goal, blocked and missed). They went 36-30 in the faceoff circle and had a 27-13 advantage in hits. It could be the blueprint for this team going forward, but they have to follow that blueprint on a more regular basis.
"We know what makes us successful and we know the habits that come into play when things aren't going well," Benn said. "It's up to us as players to stick to our identity. It's something we've definitely talked about, and we're determined to keep each other accountable on how we play every night."
Polak echoed those thoughts. Asked if he felt a rash of injuries contributed to the inconsistency earlier, he said no.
"Injuries happen, every team has injuries, so I don't think that's because of injuries," Polak said. "I'm talking about team consistency, and we didn't have it. It's up and down all of the time, so we need to focus on fixing that."
Montgomery said he has reflected on a lot during his first 49 games as an NHL coach and during the time off.

"I did a reflection on … how to gain consistency, that's the biggest challenge facing us. There's a couple of things I think we can do in practice and a couple of things we can do in games that I saw in games where we played effectively," he said. "We're not going to get away from what we are, and that's being a good sound defensive team. We've got to create by working hard defensively. Good defense is going to create offense."
The entire organization believes that's how the Stars can win going forward. Dallas is fourth in goals against at 2.61, but is 29th in goals for at 2.57 per game. When it plays well, it creates scoring through puck possession and puck control. When it doesn't, it gets caught in some long scoring droughts.
For the low overall standing in goals for, the Stars have 17 games of four goals or more. They also have 15 games of one goal or less, so it's sort of a consistency problem.
But they sit in a playoff spot at 24-21-4, and have 16 home games and 17 road games remaining, including 23 against the Western Conference. They have 49 games of experience with the new coaching staff, and they certainly seem to understand what the issues are.
So, the plan is to dig in with some tough practices that will result in some mentally tough performances.
"We're in a playoff spot and we haven't played for eight days," Montgomery said. "That means that If we can get the consistency level that we want, we should be able to make the playoffs."
And that, for this franchise, would be a step forward well worth the work.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.