DALLAS _ Lindy Ruff issued an edict of sorts Friday morning.
With his team getting close to healthy, the Stars coach said he was tired of talking about all of the injuries that have dominated conversation this season.
"All of our excuses as a team are gone," Ruff said. "We're probably as healthy as we're going to get. Most teams have one or two injuries, so we feel right now it's time to get going."
The Stars played that way Friday evening, beating a struggling Vancouver Canucks team and picking up two points in the standings. Dallas took a 2-1 win and moved to 9-8-5, 23 points_a nice sign after a 5-2 loss Wednesday in Nashville.
Ruff has been juggling his lines and trying new pairs on defense and said he feels the Stars are getting back to the puck possession game that helped them win 50 games last season. Dallas had a 35-21 advantage in shots on goal Wednesday and was dominating shot attempts Friday before it sat back in its own end in the final 10 minutes and tried to protect a one-goal lead.
"We're trying to evaluate the puck-moving part of it and trying to be fair and consistent and keep the same unit in there, because I really feel we have moved the puck better than we had been moving it," Ruff said of the inclusion of rookie Esa Lindell and Julius Honka in the last three games.
Lindell ended up being the hero, tallying his first NHL goal, as well as an assist. The rangy defenseman, who had 42 points (14 goals, 28 assists) in 73 games for the AHL's Texas Stars last season, flashed the shot that helped him pile up those points.
With Dallas down 1-0 in the second period, Brett Ritchie won a puck battle along the boards and sent a pass out to Lindell at the left point. The 22-year-old defenseman snapped a shot on goal that was deflected in by Radek Faksa, as the Stars fought back to tie the score.
Six minutes later, Jamie Benn found an open Lindell, and he popped a shot through a Patrick Eaves screen for the game-winning goal at the 15:58 mark of the second period. Benn immediately went to the net to retrieve the souvenir for Lindell in a nice bonding moment on home ice.
Antti Niemi then took care of the rest of the game. While Dallas fell into a shell and allowed 14 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, Niemi stopped them all. He moved his home record to 5-1-1, while he's 0-1-1 on the road.
"We've talked about that as a staff, that he plays well at home," Ruff said of Niemi. "Maybe that's something we go further with. It's been noticeable."
With Dallas taking off on a four-game road trip that starts Monday in St. Louis, that home/road formula will have to wait for a week. The Stars next play at home Dec. 6.
"We just have to win," Ruff said. "Whatever that formula is, we need guys playing well here and we need guys playing well on the road."
And there are no excuses, no matter who is in the lineup.
Ruff said before Friday's game that he liked the puck possession he was getting from the young defensemen, and that he just needed them to get a little more consistent.
"I'd like to see us eliminate a couple of big mistakes," Ruff said. "For 80 percent of that [Nashville] game, we were going pretty well, but you have to eliminate that big defensive blunder, because it has hurt us from getting two or three wins in a row and get us rolling in the right direction."
Consider Friday a good first step in that direction.
