I'm still kind of sad about last night's loss to the Utah Mammoth. I hate to see the Stars get goalied like that, but it happens during the regular season. However, there is a silver lining to them losing last night. There's no pressure of a franchise record over their heads when it comes to Wednesday's game in Denver. That means the Stars should be relaxed and ready to kick some Avalanche butt tomorrow night. That will be a fun game to watch as the Stars try to close the Central Division gap to one point.
There was some good news from the optional practice this morning. Mikko Rantanen was practicing with the team. While he's still a couple of weeks out from resuming playing in games, seeing him on the ice might be what the Stars needed to get over last night's loss. The fact that he's even close to returning should motivate the Stars to do well on the road against Colorado and Minnesota this week. It will be great to have him back in the lineup once he's ready to return.
Mikko Rantanen has such a massive presence when he's on the ice against any team in the league. Teams know what kind of scoring threat he can be when he takes a shift. Just having him in the lineup gives Dallas an edge that makes them an elite hockey team. Unfortunately, he's out right now, but he will be back before the playoffs start, which is good for Dallas. The Stars have been winning without him in the lineup, and that credit goes to Jim Nill for building such an elite team.
However, Dallas needs to forget about last night's loss and focus on the two divisional games this week. They are crucial games if Dallas wants to leapfrog Colorado and play one of the wildcard teams in the first round of the playoffs. It remains to be seen whether Dallas will face Seattle in the first round. The Stars need to keep winning games without Rantanen in the lineup. I know the team wants revenge on Colorado for what they did in Dallas a short while ago. That might be the motivation to upset Colorado tomorrow night.