"The thought running through the minds of the Coyotes during a six-week stretch that had them traveling 28,000 miles to play 17 of 25 of games was, "Are we ever going to get time to practice?'

Recently, the question was, "When are we ever going to play another game?"

With the five-day All-Star Game break, followed by a Tuesday night game and then three more days off, the Coyotes are more than ready to return to the ice. Starting Saturday night against San Jose, the leader in the Pacific Division, they will try to take a step in re-establishing their identity and making a playoff push with 31 games remaining.

"We need a game; we've had too much practice," coach Dave Tippett said half in jest. "Three good days, and we got some work done. Coming out of the break, I thought it was very good for our team. Now we have to turn that into results."

The Coyotes focused on various aspects of their game, and Tippett talked about the importance of that as opposed to off-ice preparation."