Injuries Have Defending Champions Seeing Stars

The playoffs were long and the summer was short, and when Oct. 1 rolled around, the Dallas Stars weren’t emotionally or physically ready to defend the Stanley Cup.

“It’s tough, after you win the championship, to be fired up,” defenseman Richard Matvichuk said. “But we’re over that.”

They got over it by sheer will. Realizing how tough the Western Conference and Pacific Division had become, the Stars seemed to flick a psychological switch and play with an efficient purpose that lifted them from last in the division toward the top. Although they had 13 fewer points halfway through this season than a year ago--a decrease second only to East champion Buffalo’s 15-point decline--they mounted a 12-4-2 surge from Thanksgiving through New Year’s.

“There might have been an edge missing at the start,” assistant coach Rick Wilson said. “The hunger is there now, but the way things have been going lately, that’s evolving into frustration.”

That’s because the team that can so deftly control its emotions and the pace of games, the team that miraculously got Brett Hull to control his freewheeling instincts and play decent defense, has confronted the one element it can’t control and may not be able to conquer: injuries.

What was left of the Stars showed admirable tenacity to defeat the Kings, 5-2, Thursday at Staples Center. The Stars remain a point behind the first-place Coyotes, but they wouldn’t be close if everyone else in the division hadn’t thudded to earth. “We haven’t been playing the style of hockey we’ve got to be playing,” defenseman Jamie Pushor said.

They haven’t been intact long enough to play the rugged, relentless defensive game that wore opponents down last season.

“It feels like this has been six seasons, we’ve just been through so much,” Coach Ken Hitchcock said Thursday. “I think our team is so callused by now.”

Two periods into his third game back after missing 10 games because of injured ribs, playoff MVP Joe Nieuwendyk suffered a separated right shoulder Wednesday and will be out a month. In the same game, standout winger Jere Lehtinen, who had missed 11 weeks because of a broken ankle, aggravated his sore ankle and didn’t play Thursday.

“It’s tough, because I really started to feel good the last couple of games,” Nieuwendyk said. “You try and get ready for this time of year, and then this happens.”

The Stars were already without workhorse defenseman Derian Hatcher, who is several weeks from recovering from a slashed calf muscle; winger Jamie Langenbrunner, who has a pinched nerve in his neck; center Brian Skrudland, who has a bruised chest; goalie Ed Belfour, idled because of a sore groin, and defenseman Shawn Chambers, who’s still recovering from knee surgery.

Hull has a sore groin that dates to last spring and caused him to miss a game last week. Center Mike Modano is fine, but he has suffered two concussions in the last three months and if he doesn’t flinch when he’s hit, those watching him do.

The Stars’ offense has suffered, producing 110 goals in 47 games. That puts them ahead of only Calgary, the Islanders, Montreal and Atlanta. Left wing Kirk Muller, signed as a free agent in December, instantly became one of their most prolific players by collecting four goals and nine points in 14 games and restoring some of the grit they lost when Craig Ludwig retired and they didn’t re-sign Pat Verbeek.

“We’re all going to put on green jerseys. Just call us M*A*S*H 4077,” Matvichuk joked.

Gallows humor, maybe, but it’s better to laugh than to cry.

“We battled without Mike. We battled without Derian. We have to keep battling. It doesn’t stop,” said Matvichuk, who assisted on Hull’s second-period goal and Blake Sloan’s third-period goal Thursday. “We’ve got to look at this not as a sprint but as a marathon right now. Hopefully by April we can get it together and do something good. The idea is to be healthy by April 10 [for the playoffs].

“Of course, you’re stretched when you lose a Joe Nieuwendyk, a Derian Hatcher, a Shawn Chambers. They’ve got me playing 30 minutes a game, and I used to play 22, 23 minutes. Without Derian, that’s what I’ve got to do. Without Joe, Mike and Brett are going to play a little more and [Guy Carbonneau] and guys like that.

“As an organization we’ve dealt with this before since I’ve been here. Everybody just has to step it up a little extra and go from there.”

True enough, but they’ve never faced such adversity while fending off opponents who are emotionally revved to face the defending Cup champions. If the Stars thought winning the Cup was difficult, they’re learning repeating may be twice as tough.

“It’s frustrating, but I’m not throwing in the towel,” Nieuwendyk said, cradling his shoulder in a sling. “Now my ribs will have a long time to heal. I’ll get over this and be ready to go.”

To go to the hospital? Maybe. To the finals again? The Stars don’t know. They are better at reading X-rays than reading the future.