First Shift 🏒
The trains, planes and bus rides of certain Stars personnel for the month of February has been downright wacky.
Dallas opened the month with one home game followed by a three-game road trip through California. At the conclusion of the trip, a small posse immediately headed to Montreal to participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off. After the final game of the tournament on Thursday in Boston, the Stars returned to regular-season play up north in New Jersey, followed by games on Long Island and in Columbus. So, after last playing at American Airlines Center on Feb. 2, the lads in Victory Green will finally return to home ice on Friday, the 28th.
That’s tough on the fans, but consider that Jake Oettinger, Pete DeBoer, Jim Nill and Misha Donskov slept in their own beds for the first time in nearly four weeks on Wednesday morning after returning from Columbus. Thomas Harley, Esa Lindell, Roope Hintz and Granlund are also still getting reacquainted with their own homes.
“I’m just happy to catch my breath, get my life together, do laundry, stuff like that,” Oettinger said. “I like a routine, so I’m happy.”
The Stars have a chance to find that routine again this week. After one of the craziest seasons in recent history to date – including a trip to Finland and several key injuries – Dallas now gets to prepare for the stretch run. Sure, the trade deadline is next Friday, but the rest of it all seems pretty normal. The Stars play the next four at home, where they are 20-7-1 this season. That time should include plenty of practice, which also has been rare this season.
“It’s nice to be back with our group,” DeBoer said after practice on Thursday in Frisco. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the practice ice.”
Dallas didn’t even have morning skates before games against the Devils and Islanders, so this really was a good reset. Granlund was particularly hit by all of this travel. The versatile forward was acquired by the Stars on Feb. 1, made his Stars debut at AAC on Feb. 2, went on the road trip to California, joined Team Finland for the 4 Nations Face-Off and then met the Stars in New Jersey. Thursday was just his fourth day in the metroplex since the trade.
“It’s been a while since I have been here and I was only here for 24 hours at that time,” Granlund said. “So it’s good to be here and get everything settled.”
The Stars have been a model of smart play and efficiency this season, which is a big reason they rank third in the NHL at 37-19-2. However, they were scrambly and chaotic at times in all three games coming out of the break, and they want to rectify that. Dallas won the first two games on the strength of good goaltending and special teams play. They lost the game on Tuesday in Columbus because of too many mistakes and bad decisions.
“Our game, I think, has been really solid for a while here, and I want to keep it there,” DeBoer said of the opportunity to fix a few things in the next week. “I was a little disappointed in our third night. I knew we would be off a little bit, but I still thought there was a chance to get points there if we were a little bit sharper and a little bit smarter. We have played a mature game in that situation for most of the year, and I thought we were a little immature, which is something we addressed today.”
Harley said the team has a quiet confidence that should help.
“That road trip was a little helter-skelter, but practice always seems to straighten things out for us,” he said. “We’re a veteran team, so we’ll get it back.”
That task begins on Friday against a Kings team on a 5-0-2 hot streak.
