With the list of injured Dallas forwards getting longer, the Stars recalled center Justin Dowling from Texas of the AHL. Dowling had a good training camp and preseason with Dallas and is tied for second in scoring in the AHL with eight points (two goals, six assists) in five games.
As for the other injured Dallas forwards, Patrick Eaves appears to be the closest to returning. Eaves didn't skate Monday, but Ruff said Eaves "could play" Tuesday. Patrick Sharp (concussion-like symptoms) is not skating. Jiri Hudler (illness) skated on his own in Frisco Monday but is still not ready to play.
Also not practicing Monday was Stars captain Jamie Benn. Ruff said it was a maintenance day for Benn and that he would be a player on Tuesday.
So, here's the status of the Dallas injured forwards: Spezza (questionable), Eaves (questionable), Hemsky (out/IR), Hudler (out/IR), Sharp (out/IR), Eakin (out/IR), Janmark (out/IR).
Trying to get back on track
It was back to work Monday for the Stars as they try to bounce back from a dismal 3-0 loss to Columbus Saturday at American Airlines Center. There was plenty to work on both off the ice and on it.
"Based on Saturday's game, it was a long list," said defenseman Dan Hamhuis. "We talked about a lot of stuff today, looked at video. There's a lot of system stuff, but in the end, it comes down to working harder, working smarter and that's something we tried to address today in practice."
Stars coach Lindy Ruff talked about a few of the specifics.
"From our defensive zone posture to coming back and doing the right thing in our end, and to leaving our end," Ruff said. "You have to work incredibly hard now in the offensive zone to create chances. Once the team is organized in the defensive end, there aren't going to be 'A' chances. I think part of our problem [Saturday] was our guys got frustrated with how hard Columbus was backchecking. I said get used to it; we are probably going to see it another 75 games. We dealt with that this morning; don't get frustrated with today's game. They worked hard to get back; they worked hard to take our ice away. We had to work harder to get it back, and we didn't."
Defense juggling?
Stars coach Lindy Ruff expressed some concerns about his defense following Saturday's loss to Columbus and in Monday's practice he rolled out some different defense pairs. In no particular order, they looked like this:
Patrik Nemeth - John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya - Jordie Benn
Dan Hamhuis - Esa Lindell
Jamie Oleksiak - Stephen Johns
Asked if he was thinking about changing up the defense, Ruff had this to say: "Possibly. There's got to be a sense of accountability of how we play on the backend. If you are going to struggle on the backend, we've got guys that are going to step in and play. … That's part of playing in the NHL. To stay in the lineup you've got to play well."
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.
