The Dallas Stars – down a half-dozen high-end forwards and still, somehow, holding seven of a possible 12 points to date – are doing their best to simplify their act as they hit the road for eight of their next 10 games.
Head coach Lindy Ruff says he’s telling his players to do only one thing: the job they practice every day:
"We're going to try to remain consistent with our play," Ruff said of a one-game-at-a-time approach. "If we trust doing certain things right, it creates speed and it creates opportunities."
The Stars can use all the extra confidence they can steal, because they still don’t have definitive ETAs for most of their walking wounded, including Jason Spezza, Jiri Hudler, Aleš Hemský and Patrick Sharp.