Stars head coach Lindy Ruff saw a lot he liked in his team’s performance over the weekend, as they played host to the two teams the’ve spent much of the season jostling with atop the standings, the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues, on back to back nights at the American Airlines Center.
They beat the Blackhawks, 5-2; the fell to the Blues in overtime, 5-4.
It would have been nice to get that second win, but considering the effort he saw, and the fact that the team got three of the four points on the table, Ruff left the arena Saturday feeling good about the weekend.
“The boys played a hell of a hockey game. It's been a hell of a weekend for us, getting three out of four (points) and how hard they competed,” Ruff said, per Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. "Everybody's sitting in that room disappointed that that last one went in, but I think you've got to take a lot of the positive out of this game and the way we played these two games. Take a look at the way some of these guys have stepped in and helped us get points.”
The Stars are now in a tie with the Blues for first place in the Western Conference.
"I think it tells us what we think: We're a good team, we play well and we can compete with everyone,” said Stars’ center Jason Spezza. "Sometimes, it nice to have tests like this against two great teams coming in. It makes you up your game a little more as a group and I thought we did that."
