As Seguin closes in on return, Stars embrace challenge of final stretch

The beautiful dance of spin control often greets NHL teams on the road.
Is playing away from home a drudge that forces players to dig deep and steel themselves with mental fortuity?
Or can a nice road trip bond your group and allow them to get even closer and derive energy from embracing an "us-against-the-world" mindset?
The Stars are about to find out.

Dallas ran through a 4-0-1 homestand recently and looked like it was hitting its stride on the season. Then, on Thursday, the Stars hacked up a hairball at Little Caesars Arena in a 7-3 loss to the Red Wings that reminded players that winning on the road isn't easy. After all, this team is 12-6-8 at home and 7-9-4 on the road, so that speaks for itself.
Yet, if the Stars hope to make a run at securing the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division, it will have to be done in other people's houses. Dallas plays at Detroit Saturday, returns home for its two final home games Monday and Tuesday, and then heads out on a seven-game road trip to end the season. That's a bit of an unknown odyssey there, but if the Stars want to get a hint of what's happening, then this four-day stop in Motown is a good warmup.
Not only do the players have to digest and recover from the loss, but they also are getting their first surge of Tyler Seguin this year. The talented forward, who is second on the team in scoring with 514 points in 538 games since joining the Stars in 2013, has missed the entire season while recovering from hip surgery. He's close to returning, and going on the road this week is a huge part of that process.

Seguin is skating with the team when they practice, but he's not yet getting into contact drills. Because of that, he might not be in the lineup before the team heads back out on the road Thursday at Tampa Bay.
"We do battle drills with (the taxi squad) to keep them up and running, and so they're ready to play when we need them," Stars coach Rick Bowness said, cautioning that Seguin was not yet in those battle drills. "Seggy will fall into that group and work with them. He'll get enough battle drills before he plays, we'll make sure that happens."
Asked when that could be, Bowness said: "Hopefully, sometime next week."
The head coach added that Seguin will play a big role in the decision.
"It's not fair to him to say this is the date you're going to play," Bowness said. "We've got to give him the opportunity to come to us and say, `OK, I'm ready.' We have to give him the luxury of coming to us. When he feels he's ready to go, that's when he'll play."
But being around the team is a big part of being ready. Seguin is embracing his teammates, and they are also sharing his energy.
"It's nice to have him around," said forward Blake Comeau. "He's obviously got a personality that adds a different dynamic to the group. He's always talking and joking around, he likes to be at the rink. Just to have him back around the guys is a good feeling."

Bowness said he likes to see Seguin's positivity around the team.
"He's anxious to play, there's no question," Bowness said. "It's good for the guys to see him around, they know he's getting close and they see him working very hard. And it's good for Seggy. He's in our meetings now, and he's getting used to the meetings and how we do things on the ice during the game."
Still, there is that tightrope that has to be walked. The Stars know each game is crucial, and yet they also know they can't wish Seguin back before he's ready. Plus, with the new NHL protocols caused by the battle to stay safe against the COVID pandemic, the road is a strange place where there isn't the bonding time there has been in the past.
"It's been tough, to be honest," Comeau said. "You're basically stuck in the hotel until you play. There's some long days and some long trips. I think we've done a pretty good job adapting to it, and it's become the new norm."
So, how does everyone juggle that while trying to come back from one of their worst performances of the season?
"There's pressure on us, there's pressure on all of us," Bowness said. "You've got to win, you can't avoid that, but that's what we sign up for. There's pressure to get in the playoffs, and you can't avoid that. You learn to deal with it. We didn't deal with it very well last night, but we'll deal with it better tomorrow. The pressure is where we are, that's why we love the game, to put ourselves in the position where we can have some great success."
Comeau said he has been on teams that didn't have a chance to contend for a playoff spot in the final month of the season and said that wasn't any fun at all. So as the Stars race Nashville and Chicago to the end, knowing every game and every point will be crucial, Comeau said he loves it.

"I think everybody embraces it," Comeau said. "Everyone is excited that we're in the position where every game matters. We control our own destiny, which is a position you want to be in. I don't think anyone feels the pressure, I think everyone is excited that we have a chance to get in the playoffs. We've come a long way from where we were sitting to where we are now, and I think everybody is excited about that."
Dallas was on a 6-0-2 run before Thursday's loss, so the Stars have built some confidence. Bowness said the team simply has to correct the problems that led to some serious breakdowns and play the game they have been playing for most of April.
"There are harsh reminders in this game, and the harsh reminder of last night is we can't give teams goals like we did, we can't turn the puck over," Bowness said.
But, he added, they can fix that with a positive attitude and a little more attention to detail.
"It's like I tell the players, `Don't sit on the bench worrying about your last shift, worry about going back on the ice and do the right things the next time.'" Bowness said. "If you're sitting on the bench and you're worrying about your last shift, you're not going on with the right frame of mind. We dealt with how we lost last night and now we move on."
Which is sort of how they have to spin all of these road games.
"I think it's going to be a big boost for our team," Comeau said of the potential return of Seguin. "We've done a good job of having other guys step up, grinding our way to get back in the playoff picture, and anytime we can get reinforcements with the caliber of player like Tyler, it's going to be a huge boost for us. So it's nice to have him around the team and we're excited to get him back when he's ready."

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Stars at Red Wings

Saturday, 6 p.m. CT
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit
TV: Bally Sports Southwest Plus
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.