DALLAS _ The balance of present and future is a tenuous one in the NHL.
Yes, you want to win every game now and keep your focus on that, but you also want to make sure you're preparing yourself for an eventual push for the playoffs ... and make yourself the team you ultimately want to be.
The Stars helped themselves now, taking a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers Saturday at American Airlines Center, and also might have helped set the stage for a better future.
Dallas heads into a league-mandated five-day break (every team gets one and players are released from games and practices during the break) with a nice cushion in the standings at 24-16-3 (51 points). As a result, they shouldn't be under a lot of pressure when they return Jan. 13 and opposing teams have drawn closer by accumulating points against the Stars.
Likewise, the team also should return with confidence in the way they're playing. Coach Ken Hitchcock, in his first year back with the team, has been pushing an attack where work sets ups skill, and that played out perfectly on the ice Saturday.
"As a coach, you're looking for an identity," Hitchcock said. "We have an identity. Everybody knows how we play, everybody knows what the trigger points are in the identity, they're helping each other."
The Stars could have unraveled against a desperate Oilers team that had a strong start and finished with a 38-33 advantage in shots on goal. Instead, Dallas refused to get in a pinball game, kept its work in mind, and then took advantage by controlling the puck and letting skill take over.
Of course, it helped that Hitchcock played a hunch and put Alexander Radulov on the top line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin in the first period. Radulov had a goal and two assists in 10 minutes, and helped bury the Oilers in doubt.
"We came in pretty focused, but the three of us didn't even start together," Benn said. "Hitch threw us together one shift, and I think Rads scored that first shift and started things, and then we had a good first period."
Seguin fed Radulov for a goal, Radulov fed Benn for a goal, and then Radulov fed Seguin for a goal. Each was a gorgeous play and displayed the skill of the talented trio. But each of those first three goals was a result of Dallas forcing Edmonton into a turnover and using defense to create offense.
"It goes back to the identity thing," Hitchcock said. "If you're willing to check for chances, good things happen. But that's been the sales bit that started here in training camp, and we're starting to understand that concept that you can create offense by checking."
So while the players jet off to exotic vacation locales for a week _ they can do so knowing that this team is moving forward. It will return with a better knowledge of how to play and also with a clear mind that it has a very good chance of making the playoffs if it keeps improving.
"It was just a great team win. That's how we wanted to play the last game before the bye week," said defenseman John Klingberg, who had a goal and two assists. "We can't control what the other guys do in the division and the conference, but I think with the homestand we had here we said we have to get as many points as we can."
So far, the Stars are 6-1-0 in their past seven home games and move to 16-5-1 at AAC this year. While the road awaits, the Stars say they are becoming a team that can handle challenges.
"We're starting to do the things that you need to do to be a winning hockey club on a consistent basis," Hitchcock said. "We're starting to trust it."
And that can definitely help you both now and in the future.
