Dallas Stars Daily Links: On the Road Again

Okay, maybe this will finally be the road trip that gets the Stars turned around away from home. They’re 3-8-1 on the road so far this season and have lost the last four in a row. Ken Hitchcock thinks “trusting the work” and playing a full 60 minutes is the key to success:

"It's real simple: just trust our work. Let the skill take us from there but trust the work," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "We are starting to do that more and more now. We had 40 great minutes against Tampa Bay, we had 55 great minutes against Colorado. It's getting better and better. If we trust our work, we've got enough skill to win hockey games. We just look like we are mentally ready to win now; we're ready to win in anybody's building."

Hitch does have a point about not playing the full 60. The Stars have looked good for stretches of many road games, but then seem to give up a string of opportunities and subsequent goals, and then not be able to come back. Two years ago, even when the Stars were down 3-0, it still felt like they were in the game. It hasn’t felt like that this year, and Tyler Seguin says it has to do with being able to play when you’re out of your comfort zone:

"A lot of it has to do with our mindset. We need to play like we do at home. We know how we can play," said center Tyler Seguin. "A lot of it is that emotion. On the road when we get uncomfortable we kind of shy away and when we are at home we are always comfortable, and that's why we play the way we do. When we get uncomfortable on the road we need to raise our level more, compete more."

Whatever this issues may be, the Stars need to correct them soon in order to get back into the playoff race. Mark Stepneski covers this and more, including how maybe the dad road trip will help the players, at his usual spot. [NHL]

Stars Stuff

Is the Vegas effect real? It seems like players could party in any city, really. Well, maybe not Winnipeg. [Wrong Side of the Red Line]

Jason Spezza thinks the dads might help with the Stars road woes:

Looks like Stephen Johns will be back on the ice tonight:

Scott Burnside laughs in the face of Twitter’s 280 characters, believes brevity is the soul of wit:

Antoine Roussel is a fan of Papa Benn:

I think we all do, Jere:

“The defensive game has grown so hard,” and “The role of a handsome player has grown steadily as the season progresses - and no reason for it,” are a couple of the gems that you will get if you throw this Finnish article about Miro Heiskanen into Google Translate. [Liiga]

Around the League

Rob Mixer’s Mixed Bag takes a look at the Oilers’ troubles this season and how the Rangers have recovered from a slow start. [Sporting News]

Down Goes Brown recaps the weekend, shoots his pun gun with Ottawa’s “Sens of Urgency.”:

I know it’s in Canada so the hockey coverage is a little more passionate, but I had no idea Edmonton had a vicious enough press to affect on-ice matters:

Cross checking guys in the neck: not okay. Avalanche Captain Gabriel Landeskog will be taking an unpaid 4-game vacation for his hit on Matthew Tkachuk. [SportsNet]

Fun fact:

I think maybe guys will be expecting this from now on:

Dylan Strome got called back up to the Coyotes. Jared Clinton takes a look at which AHL players might be the next to make it to the Show. [The Hockey News]

Eh, he’s still boring to me: