Dallas Stars will now have lot of time on the ice after their trip to Finland

AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars played back-to-back games at home against the Chicago Blackhawks, with 11 days and a trip to Finland between them.

Now the Stars will be logging plenty of ice time, with 21 games in 44 days through the week before Christmas.

“You get through training camp, you try and settle in and then we go to Finland and it kind of shuffles things for a second,” forward Sam Steel said. “Now we’re past that. We can just focus on this next stretch coming up and grind it out and try and get to our our A-game.”

After losing two games to the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers last weekend in Finland, and then the 11-hour direct flight back to Texas, the Stars (8-4) were back in their home arena Thursday night for a 3-1 win.

Dallas next plays Saturday at Winnipeg, which has an NHL-best 13-1 record. The game in Canada will be the third country in three games over an eight-day span for the Stars.

“Just like we were waited a long time to play (in Finland). … So now we can just get in a routine,” goalie Jake Oettinger said. “It’s just hockey now and we’re going to be playing a lot, so it’ll be fun and hopefully we can just get on a roll and start winning a lot.”

Chicago was playing its sixth game since its previous trip to Dallas on Oct. 26.

The Stars, who have made it to the Western Conference final in each of coach Pete DeBoer’s first two seasons, never trailed after Steel scored 11 minutes into their first game back home. Steel also assisted on Tyler Seguin’s goal while Oettinger stopped 25 shots, including five in a 10-second span less than a minute after they took a 2-0 lead.

“Going into this game, we just said find a way,” Seguin said.

“I thought we played a good game,” DeBoer said. “I liked a lot of things we did considering the situation coming back from overseas. I thought we controlled that game for the most part.”

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