First Shift 🏒
It was like training camp in April for the Stars on Tuesday.
Well, to be honest, it’s probably been like that for a week or so.
In their most important practice day in the past couple of months, the Stars broke down into two groups and worked on extensive drills that resembled training camp. There was focus on defensive position and “compete,” and on making smart simple plays. That’s needed, because the team has struggled in those areas while battling through an 0-4-2 slump, their worst of the season.
“We haven’t had much opportunity to practice, with our schedule from the trade deadline on,” said Stars coach Pete DeBoer. “It was an opportunity to kind of reset some things and have a good practice. I think we got some things accomplished.”
The Stars will now hopefully use those lessons in the final regular-season game against Nashville on Wednesday. Mason Marchment has missed the past two games with the flu, while defensemen Thomas Harley and Esa Lindell were allowed to rest as healthy scratches. The Stars lost games to Utah and Detroit as a result. Dallas has allowed 29 goals in its past six games and has looked disorganized in its defensive coverage. The players say revisiting their basics can be helpful.
“It’s good to have a day like today to refresh and get back to the basics,” said center Sam Steel. “We just kind of dialed in some things that will be big in the playoffs. It was a lot of D zone stuff and just simple habits that when we do them well, we win games.”
Since DeBoer and the current coaching staff came on board in 2022, Dallas is fifth in GAA at 2.71. That’s one of the reasons it has been able to get to the conference final in each of the past two seasons. DeBoer said that’s something the team is trying to find again.
“All of the things that are important to playoff hockey, you’ve got to defend well in order to win. It starts there,” DeBoer said.
So, then, what has the team accomplished so far?
“One, it was important to give some guys some rest particularly Esa and Harley,” DeBoer said. “Colorado has that luxury with their schedule. We didn’t, so we created that luxury. It might have cost us a couple of game to do it, but we felt it was we needed that in order to level the playing field.”
The Stars will play Colorado in the First Round and the Avalanche ended their season on Sunday. So, they will be able to run several practices before the two teams meet in Game 1, likely on Saturday in Dallas. So, yes, Dallas wants to play well Wednesday against Nashville, but the real key is getting everything in order for Game 1.
“Yes, we’re focusing on the game tomorrow, but we know in a few days the things we play for all year starts,” Steel said. “For now, we have to focus on the game tomorrow but also be focused on the game that’s upcoming.”
