If the Dallas Stars are hoping to find a solution to their road troubles, they have a perfect opportunity in the next few days.
After losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night, the Stars play the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place on Wednesday night, head back to Dallas for a home-and-home series against the St. Louis Blues on back-to-back nights and then fly back across the continent for a game against the Carolina Hurricanes next Monday.
Then again, such a hectic schedule does not allow much time for coaches to find solutions to a 3-5 NHL road record and then have the players work on them in practice.
"We've had the easiest schedule in the league until now," Stars centre Brad Richards said Tuesday after the Stars finished practising in Toronto before departing for Ottawa.
Richards and Stars head coach Marc Crawford both said the team is playing better than its road record shows. The problems have mostly been mistakes at bad times.
"When you look at our last six games, there are only one or two that have been bad," Richards said. "We're just not clicking for 60 minutes."
Tuesday's practice allowed some time for Crawford to work on one or two areas his team needs to fix but it may have also cost the Stars the services of defenceman Mark Fistric. He fell over a teammate and went heavily into the boards. Fistric sustained a groin injury and Crawford said he will not know until Wednesday if the defenceman will be able to play in Ottawa.
Forward James Neal, who finished the game against the Leafs despite suffering a cut on his leg from a skate, did not practice on Tuesday. However, he will play against the Senators.
Andrew Raycroft will start in goal for Dallas, which will be just his fourth appearance this season thanks to Kari Lentonen's excellent start.