Dallas Stars: Extensive Practice Time Offers Chance To Reset Tempo

The Dallas Stars won’t be back in action at the American Airlines Center until Wednesday night. But for the final three days of their break from competition, they will be practicing in Frisco. It’s a critical time in the schedule that they must use to their advantage.

It’s been eight days since the Dallas Stars last competed in an NHL regular season game. In addition, it’s also been eight days since the Stars were on the ice together.

But after an extended week of no hockey action (except Miro Heiskanen competing in the NHL All-Star Game) for Stars fans to follow, Sunday afternoon brings a breath of fresh air to the Dallas hockey community.

The Stars will be back on the ice at the Comerica Center in Frisco at 4 p.m. on Sunday for a scheduled practice. After a week of vacationing, enjoying time with family, and recharging, it’s time for Dallas to get back to the grind. That usually proves to be more difficult than some might think.

Competing in the NHL is an absolute grind. It requires a certain level of repetition in the daily life of a player, including consistent effort and a set schedule in order to always achieve maximum effort.

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But when a player is given a week away from the rink and 10 days off from in-game action, that repetition disappears. Instead of following their usual schedule of morning skate, rest, game, rest, practice, etc., they have eight days of free rein.

And when they return to practice or game action, it can be difficult to immediately access their same level of effort from the first part of the season. It’s not like riding a bike where someone can learn it, abandon it for a few months, and then return at the same level.

As a result, it’s up to the Dallas Stars to use these next three days to their advantage. It’s an opportunity to get back into game shape, regroup, and bounce back to game speed.

It was an interesting ride into the break for the Stars. They opened up a six-game homestand with four games in a span of eight days. And while their competition varied from teams at the top of the league standings to teams near the bottom, Dallas struggled in keeping pace with most of them. They lost to the St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Los Angeles Kings to start the homestand and dropped to 23-21-4 on the year. The losses brought them close to the playoff wall in the Western Conference and put the pressure on.

But they found a way to right the ship last Saturday in one of their most complete games of the year. The Dallas Stars downed the Winnipeg Jets 4-2, picked up a big divisional win, and solidified their spot in the playoff picture. It was a game where Dallas relied on speed, depth scoring, and offensive relentless, and all three factors produced in a big way.

“These games are huge for us,” said Jason Dickinson before the homestand began, “especially going into that break where we can rest feeling great about our game and then keep it rolling off the break. If we go into the break holding our sticks tight, the break was all for nothing and we’re just back to where we were.”

They were able to enter the break with motivation, but that was eight days ago. Now, the challenge is getting back to that same speed and finding a way to access that same style in preparation for Wednesday night as well as going forward.