The Dallas Stars played back-to-back games at home against the Chicago Blackhawks, separated by 11 days and a trip to Finland.
Now, the Stars are set for a busy schedule with 21 games in 44 days leading up to Christmas.
“You get through training camp, you try and settle in and then we go to Finland and it kind of shuffles things for a second,” forward Sam Steel said. “Now we’re past that. We can just focus on this next stretch coming up and grind it out and try and get to our A-game.”
After losing two games to the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in Finland last weekend, the Stars returned to Texas following an 11-hour flight. Back in their home arena, they won 3-1 on Thursday night.
Dallas will play next on Saturday against Winnipeg, which has the best record in the NHL at 13-1. This will be the Stars’ third game in three countries over an eight-day period.
“Just like we were waited a long time to play (in Finland). … So now we can just get in a routine,” goalie Jake Oettinger said. “It’s just hockey now and we’re going to be playing a lot, so it’ll be fun and hopefully we can just get on a roll and start winning a lot.”
Chicago, on the other hand, was playing its sixth game since its last visit to Dallas on October 26.
The Stars, who made it to the Western Conference final in each of coach Pete DeBoer’s first two seasons, never trailed in the 3-1 win after Steel scored 11 minutes into the first game back home.
Steel also assisted on Tyler Seguin’s goal, while Oettinger made 25 saves, including five in a 10-second span right after the Stars took a 2-0 lead.
“Going into this game, we just said find a way,” Seguin said.
“I thought we played a good game,” DeBoer said. “I liked a lot of things we did considering the situation coming back from overseas. I thought we controlled that game for the most part.”
