DALLAS -- The Ottawa Senators are 17-12-0 on the road and 7-3-0 over their past 10 games, but they aren't about to take the Dallas Stars, who they will face Wednesday at American Airlines Center, lightly.
"They (the Stars) got some high-end skill," Senators forward Mark Stone said after a 4-2 win against Boston Monday in Ottawa. "We got to make sure that we're not underestimating them."
Ottawa (36-22-6) sits second in the Atlantic Division after a perfect 3-0-0 homestand. The Senators are 12-7-3 against the Western Conference, but just 4-4-1 against the Central Division.
The Senators are also starting a three-game West road trip that after Dallas, will take them to Arizona on Thursday before finishing the trek Saturday night at Colorado.
And as a way to manage such a busy schedule prevalent at this point in the season, Ottawa coach Guy Boucher recently decided not to practice the day before games. So instead of hitting the ice before flying to Dallas on Tuesday, Boucher and his team instead simply got on the plane.
"Yeah (it's all about energy)," Boucher said. "I know that when we have a 35-minute practice, which is very short, the day before the game, before Christmas it was helpful. And now we've had that lately and we haven't done well the next day. At this time of the year, guys, they've played a lot of games and they have battled through, and a lot of guys have injuries. Right now, it's not about practicing. We know how to play, we know what we're supposed to do and we just need the energy to do so."
Dallas (27-29-10), also heads into this game off a big win, a 4-2 victory at Washington on Monday evening. The Stars are 18-11-6 at home and currently sit five points out of the second wild-card playoff spot in the West.
The Stars were 2-0-0 on their road trip with a Saturday win at Florida and Monday's victory in Washington.
And Dallas coach Lindy Ruff wants to see his team carry that momentum forward into Wednesday.
"I think the team battled hard (on the road trip). Obviously, we played the top team in the East (in Washington) and came out really well," Ruff said after practice on Tuesday. "We needed to win both and we won both. Now we got to focus on the one ahead of us."
Maybe the star of Monday's win was goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who made a season-high 42 saves as Dallas ended Washington's home winning streak.
"Well, I think for the most part, he hasn't let in any tough ones. Most of the time, it's a pretty good shot that's beating him," Ruff said of Lehtonen's recent play.
Monday's game was also noteworthy because it marked the NHL debut of forward Remi Elie, an emergency recall from the AHL last week after Antoine Roussel was injured.
But Ruff liked what he saw from Elie in his debut, performances which he expects to see more of going forward.
"I think that he fits what I think can help us. I thought the line of (Cody) Eakin, him (Elie) and (Ales) Hemsky did a real good job (on Monday)," Ruff said. "You look at the number of chances he (Elie) created, the duress he put their defense under and the fact that he's a physical player. You take Roussel of our lineup and I think that's a good replacement to continue down that path where we're hard to play against."
These teams met less than a month ago with Ottawa winning 3-2 on home ice on Feb. 9, so Ruff and his players know exactly what to expect in their second and final regular-season meeting with the Senators.
"They're a team that preys off of mistakes you make through the neutral zone and they wait for the chances," Ruff said. "They play a patient game and they've got some good shooters with good speed, and they've got Karlsson on the back end. They're a team that's very dangerous."
