Dallas Stars News: Thursday Morning Practice Update
The Dallas Stars practiced Thursday morning in Frisco, and had a bit of a different look to their offense. Along with a few injury updates and quotes from players and coaches, you can find all the notes and updates below:
The Dallas Stars shifted into a new look on offense in practice today, with a few guys switching around to even things out. “We took a look at it today. After you lose a few, it might be an opportunity to spread some of the offense around,” Dallas Stars head coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think when you have what you think are your best offensive players all on the same line, it makes it a little easier on the other team. I think with Spezza and Benn on different lines, it creates a decision for the opposition. The Cole, Spezza, Hemsky line was a good line for us before Seguin was injured.”
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The Dallas Stars lost star center Tyler Seguin to a knee injury after a gutless lower-body check from Florida Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov on February 13th. After the injury was deemed long-term, Ruff put together a Jamie Benn-Jason Spezza-Erik Cole line together. Since the injury, the Stars have scored 17 goals through six games. Of the 17, 10 goals have come from these three players on the top line. Ruff has scattered the offensive firepower, looking to make all four lines a valuable threat. Here were the lines he ran in practice today:
Erik Cole-Jason Spezza-Ales Hemsky
Jamie Benn-Cody Eakin-Brett Ritchie
Antoine Roussel-Vernon Fiddler-Ryan Garbutt
Curtis McKenzie-Shawn Horcoff-Colton Sceviour
In injury news, Tyler Seguin’s knee treatment went well and he hopes to be back on the ice doing light skating by the end of the week sometime.
Kari Lehtonen and Ales Hemsky are probable for Friday night’s game against the Avalanche. Lehtonen sat out on Tuesday due to a “medical issue” and Hemsky missed Wednesday’s practice with an injury, but both were back on the ice and ran a full practice today.
Patrick Eaves, who has been sidelined with a concussion since February 13th when he took a puck to the face just moments after Seguin was carried off with the knee injury, will not play Friday. “He’s not a player for tomorrow,” Ruff said. “He was feeling good. He just doesn’t feel he is there yet from a conditioning standpoint. He’s got the baseline testing yet to do and probably a couple full practices. He wants to make sure he is feeling good before he is back in, and we want to make sure he is in the right place too.”
“I think there is some frustration. Trying to battle through that, and that’s part of becoming a better team. We are going to have to take it one game at a time, start with a win and we’ve got to get ourselves on a roll.” -Lindy Ruff
The Dallas Stars have 21 games left in their season and sit seven points back of the final wild card spot in the West, no easy feat to overcome. They face off in yet another critical game Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche, who they are tied with for fifth place in the wild card race. The Stars have faced multiple “critical” games over the last few weeks and have not been able to answer the bell. Crazily enough, the playoffs, though distant and bleak, are still an opportunity.
“We’ve just got to win games. We are at that time of the year where we’ve got to find a way to get two points. We are at that desperation time where we need wins,” said Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley. “We’re still in it. We still have a ways to go, lots of games left. We get the next one, and then we worry about the one after that.”
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