Challenging trips part of life in Western Conference
The Stars won't get much sympathy from the Chicago Blackhawks in regard to scheduling woes.
The Blackhawks flew in from Montreal late Wednesday morning while the Stars rested up in their Chicago hotel rooms. That's the way it goes for Western Conference teams, who seem to be in a different time zone twice a week.
Take the Stars' current trip, for example. Dallas played in Chicago last night, will play in St. Louis tonight and will play a day game in Los Angeles on Saturday. "That's three games in basically three and a half days," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "When you go through situations like this, you learn a lot about your team. The rest for our team, we've found, is a very valuable asset. You have to balance that. Within the group, you make sure your high-minute guys are getting enough, and the other guys too, to make sure they're at their peak in the games."
Tippett said the Stars will manage road rest, as well as home rest.
"We're in a tough stretch here," Tippett said. "Practices are valuable, but we've found with our group that rest is very valuable, too. These are very important games for us. It's the last real long road trip of the year."
Zubov still battling injury: Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov has been battling an injured hand in recent games, but he is trying to fight through it.
He fumbled a couple of pucks Wednesday, but he also added a key assist, played 27 minutes 37 seconds and was plus-2.
"He's getting better," Tippett said. "It's going to take a little bit of time. There will be times when it bothers him more than others."
Reserves announced today: The Western Conference All-Star Game reserves will be announced today by the NHL's Hockey Operations Department. Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Zubov all are in the running to be selected. There is no rule requiring the NHL to pick at least one player from every team, but the league usually does.
The league will announce the Western Conference reserves at 11 a.m. today and the Eastern Conference reserves at 11 a.m. Friday. The game will be played Jan. 27 in Atlanta.
Briefly: Stars goalie Mike Smith probably will get the start in net tonight against the Blues. ... The Stars won only 20 of 47 faceoffs (43 percent). Faceoff specialist Yanic Perreault won 8 of 11 for the Blackhawks. ... Zubov is set to tie Derian Hatcher today for fourth in Stars franchise history with 827 games played. ... Dallas band the Old 97's have been selected to participate in the NHL's All-Star Game activities.
The Stars won't get much sympathy from the Chicago Blackhawks in regard to scheduling woes.
The Blackhawks flew in from Montreal late Wednesday morning while the Stars rested up in their Chicago hotel rooms. That's the way it goes for Western Conference teams, who seem to be in a different time zone twice a week.
Take the Stars' current trip, for example. Dallas played in Chicago last night, will play in St. Louis tonight and will play a day game in Los Angeles on Saturday. "That's three games in basically three and a half days," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "When you go through situations like this, you learn a lot about your team. The rest for our team, we've found, is a very valuable asset. You have to balance that. Within the group, you make sure your high-minute guys are getting enough, and the other guys too, to make sure they're at their peak in the games."
Tippett said the Stars will manage road rest, as well as home rest.
"We're in a tough stretch here," Tippett said. "Practices are valuable, but we've found with our group that rest is very valuable, too. These are very important games for us. It's the last real long road trip of the year."
Zubov still battling injury: Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov has been battling an injured hand in recent games, but he is trying to fight through it.
He fumbled a couple of pucks Wednesday, but he also added a key assist, played 27 minutes 37 seconds and was plus-2.
"He's getting better," Tippett said. "It's going to take a little bit of time. There will be times when it bothers him more than others."
Reserves announced today: The Western Conference All-Star Game reserves will be announced today by the NHL's Hockey Operations Department. Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Zubov all are in the running to be selected. There is no rule requiring the NHL to pick at least one player from every team, but the league usually does.
The league will announce the Western Conference reserves at 11 a.m. today and the Eastern Conference reserves at 11 a.m. Friday. The game will be played Jan. 27 in Atlanta.
Briefly: Stars goalie Mike Smith probably will get the start in net tonight against the Blues. ... The Stars won only 20 of 47 faceoffs (43 percent). Faceoff specialist Yanic Perreault won 8 of 11 for the Blackhawks. ... Zubov is set to tie Derian Hatcher today for fourth in Stars franchise history with 827 games played. ... Dallas band the Old 97's have been selected to participate in the NHL's All-Star Game activities.
