First Shift \ud83c\udfd2<\/p>\n
In an 84-game season, there will be all sorts of challenges for a hockey team.<\/p>\n
So with the Stars coming off their worst game of the season \u2013 and one of the worst in Glen Gulutzan\u2019s career in Dallas \u2013 the team is looking at a potential bounce back as a real opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat game, we weren\u2019t good,\u201d Gulutzan said of a 5-1 loss to New Jersey in which the Stars were outshot 27-18. \u201cThe (second) period was the worst period I\u2019ve seen the guys play in my 100 games here. That\u2019s on all of us to look at our emotional response there. It\u2019s our job as a coaching staff to recognize those storm clouds and reverse the trap, so it\u2019s a learning thing for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stars had an optional practice planned for Wednesday, but then canceled it and told the players to get some rest. The coaching staff has been trying to balance energy with practice and has erred on the side of too much practice in the past. But Gulutzan said there were reasons for this decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision today is we skated Saturday, we played Sunday, we skated Monday and played Tuesday, so now you\u2019re four days on the ice,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cSo once you get past four, you\u2019re looking for a day off. This is a day that, to be honest with you, we were hoping we could win and give it off, but as much as you want your players to be emotionally responsible, you have to be emotionally responsible, too. Bringing them in and skating them was not going to make them better, in our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stars also have the challenge of a six-game homestand, where a team can get stale. With two more games to go \u2013 Thursday against Montreal and Saturday against Columbus \u2013 the goal is to reset and use the loss as a learning experience. But that won\u2019t be easy with defenseman Kyle Capobianco<\/a> joining Esa Lindell<\/a> on the injured list and a minor league blueliner probably getting the call up. Add to that the fact that forward Sam Steel<\/a> could possibly hop back into the lineup and rookie Dylan Hryckowian getting sent back to the minors.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2018s always something to learn, and maybe even more from your losses,\u201d Gulutzan said.<\/p>\n Stars players were asked if this was just one of those games where you toss it out and forget it, and while some agreed with that, others said it would be good to ask some questions about this one.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so,\u201d Roope Hintz<\/a> said when asked if the team should just move on. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to get those bad nights because every game is important. So we just want to get what we can from this game and bring that against Montreal.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadiens have won three straight road games and are 7-3-2 overall, so they present a challenge. Jake Oettinger<\/a> will be back in goal after Casey DeSmith<\/a> played Tuesday, and Oettinger brings in 1.48 GAA (third best in the league) and a .929 save percentage. Still, the fix goes beyond just who is in net.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019ve got to look in the mirror and figure out why the result was what it was,\u201d captain Benn said. \u201cThen come back and make sure it\u2019s only one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First Shift \ud83c\udfd2 In an 84-game season, there will be all sorts of challenges for a hockey team.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-480092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}