Stars News & Notes: Looking for success and trust

Friday, November 14, 2008-11:18:pm
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The Dallas Stars say a lack of trust is a key reason the team has yet to find success so far this season, but that the key to building that trust is, well, to start having some success.

“If you have some success it builds trust,” said Stars coach Dave Tippett. “If you don’t have success, trust is harder to get back, so you’ve got to work at it harder. We are at the working stage right now until we have some success.”

The path to success, said Tippett, requires a trip down the road of basic hockey.

"Simple strong hockey is what we are looking for," said Tippett. "We're trying to take the mistakes out of our game, we're trying to take the turnovers out of our game and try to do things that give us the best chance to win. We're going to continue to pound away and that's where the trust comes in."

The issue of trust was a hot topic after the stars lost 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night at the American Airlines Center. It was the Stars' third straight loss and fifth in the last sixth games, leaving them in last place in the Pacific Division and in 14th place in the Western Conference.

“It’s an embarrassment,” said forward Steve Ott. “I looked up at the board and we’re second from last place in the Western Conference. That’s not acceptable by any means. We have a lot of pride in this room and that's not acceptable."

What's lacking right now, say the Stars, is that much talked about trust. It's the belief that the other guy is going to do his job.

“It’s trusting your teammate to make the right play at the right time, the right decision,” said Ott. "There are many examples throughout the game with guys trying to each other's jobs and it creates a mess on the ice."

The intention is good, said captain Brenden Morrow, but the results are often bad.

“Guys are trying to help out and cover for teammates,” Morrow said. “They’re doing it in the best interest of the team - to try to help out - and it ends up hurting everyone.”

The Stars have talked about the issues and looked at them on video with the coaches in team meetings.

"We've got to keep pounding it and drilling it into our heads until it works out," said Ott. "We're all talented in here. We've been playing the game such a long time, it's time to put it to work."

And along with the trust issues has been what Morrow described as the blame game. He said some of the criticism that has been directed at Marty Turco and Sean Avery from outside the team has made its way into the locker room, adding to the trust issues.

"We're not going to get past it until it is out in the open. The blame game [from outside the team] that has been going on from Marty to Sean has crept its way into the locker room. Everyone is feeling the pressure," Morrow said. "Everyone just needs to look at themselves and if you think you're giving 100 percent, you're not. You are fooling yourself if you think you are. Until everyone is under that same belief we are going to keep playing ourselves into this hole."

And to get themselves out of this hole the Stars need some results. Just about everyone who talked Friday admitted that talk alone won't get the job done.

"It's all about results in our business. Talk is real cheap, real cheap," said Tippett. "You can have the greatest Kumbaya in the world, but if you don't have some results it isn't much of a party."

Stars Notes

• Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen and Sergei Zubov did not practice Friday. There were given the day off to rest.
• Marty Turco will start in goal Saturday night.
• Stars coach Dave Tippett said he is considering inserting Doug Janik, who has played only one game this season, into the lineup.
• Broadcast note: Saturday's game, which originally scheduled to be aired on FS Southwest, will now be carried by Channel 27.

Practice lines

Here were the lines used in Friday's practice.

Quotable

"I think that's a poor excuse. You've got to work through those things. If you want to win bad enough you have to find a way to win. If you can band together and play well as a group, you've got a chance to win. That's all we're look at right now."

Stars coach Dave Tippett on the suggestion that some of the issues surrounding the team are in the players' heads.