Wednesday and Thursday's games against the Ducks and Sharks are going to be good tests for the Stars, who have been mired in a pretty long stretch of mediocre hockey. You can blame it on injuries, a lack of offense, a combination of those two or any other factors, but the team's record over the last 20 games is 10-10-0.
This is just a two-game trip for the Stars, but the are important points. As much as some make about maybe catching San Jose in the standings, it shouldn't go unnoticed that the seventh, eighth and ninth place teams in the conference are just as close to the Stars as the Stars are to the Sharks.
Maybe that's why Tippett wasn't interested about looking up in the standings after yesterday's practice. When the Ducks and their 16-point lead over the Stars came up, Tippett said the focus is on the team getting its game in order.
"We look at how we're playing," Tippett said. "If we play well our points will take care of themselves and we'll see where it all washes out in the end."
The games in Anaheim and San Jose kick off a stretch of 15 games heading up to the All-Star break that will see the Stars play 13 games against teams who are in the Western Conference playoff mix. The Stars are going to have to be better during this group of 15 games than they've been over the past 20 tilts.
There's no better place to get on roll than with a couple of solid performances against two of the top teams in the league.
The Stars will continue to be without center Mike Modano. He won't make the California trip due to a hip injury. He hit the ice for Monday's practice, but left after a little more than half of it because he experiencing some soreness. He didn't skate yesterday, got some treatment and was listed as day-to-day by Tippett.
The Stars aren't taking any chances with Modano, who has already missed six games with the injuries and that count will now rise to eight.
"It's something that is still bothering him. It's one of those things where you are going to have to let it heal. When it heals he'll play," said Tippett.
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