Mired in a three-game losing streak, the Stars are in Buffalo to open a stretch of four games in six days with two separate sets of back to backs.
The road has been jagged, no doubt about it. But as Stars forward Tyler Seguin put it, there's no better time to get back on track than now.
"Start off with just today," he said after the team's morning skate at KeyBank Center. "The past is the past. We have to get it figured out on the road, and it starts today. We've had some good road games. We know how to play them, but we just haven't been consistent. And we know how to play on home ice. It's just about putting those together and starting off with just one."
The Stars are 4-12-1 on the road, but they're facing a Sabres team that's lost eight consecutive home games. Buffalo has 31 points through 39 games (12-20-7 record), so on paper it's a matchup that seems to favor the Stars. But as we've seen this season, that means little if the execution isn't there.
"When we play the best teams in the league, we seem to find that level, but when we play teams that are sometimes below us, we don't," Seguin said. "Instead, we wait and see. We have to be dictators tonight."
The proof will be in the pudding, as the Stars desperately need to string together wins if they want to get back in the postseason picture. As is stands, the Stars are six points behind San Jose for the second wild card and nine points back of Minnesota for the first wild card.
"Starting off the road trip with a win is always critical," Seguin said. "You want to be above .500 on the road, but we're at a point in the year where it has to be four out of five and five out of six especially on the road against teams we'd like to say we're definitely better than.
"We knew we'd have to figure it out on the road at some point here," he added. "It's going to be talked about when the year is over. That opportunity is now in front of us, and we have to roll with it."
Or, as Rage Against the Machine said in their song "Guerilla Radio,"
It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometimeWhat better place than here, what better time than now?
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Kyle Shohara is the Digital Manager for DallasStars.com and writes about the Stars/NHL. Follow him on Twitter @kyleshohara.
