{"id":444449,"date":"2026-02-04T03:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/444449\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T03:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:18:15","slug":"stars-matt-duchene-finally-regains-confidence-after-returning-from-traumatic-concussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/444449\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars\u2019 Matt Duchene finally regains confidence after returning from \u2018traumatic\u2019 concussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a difficult season for Dallas Stars<\/a> forward Matt Duchene after he missed a significant portion of the season with a serious concussion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Duchene\u2019s results have been up-and-down since returning from the injury on Dec. 7, but he\u2019s currently on a heater. He\u2019s in the midst of a five-game point streak, totaling five goals and two assists during that span, including a two-goal outing against the Blues on Jan. 27<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Duchene joined The Sweet Spot on Sportsradio 96.7 FM\/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM)<\/a> and opened up on the difficulties, both physical and mental, that he endured during his return from the concussion, his recent uptick in play and offered some advice to his Olympics-bound teammates.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re on a five-game point streak, the team\u2019s on a five-game winning streak. When you feel like you\u2019re playing with confidence in your scoring, do you feel like that brings up your game?<\/p>\n

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Matt Duchene: Oh yeah, for sure. But I think your game has to start somewhere before the results follow. I\u2019ve never been one of those guys that plays a bad game and then ends up with a goal and assist at the end of the night. There are those guys out there that can that have that knack. I\u2019m not one of them. I wish I was, trust me, but, yeah, I think for me, it starts with playing well. And I think, probably the first 20 games I was back, there was a lot of inconsistency with where I was in the lineup, how many minutes and then my game as well, within that, just trying to figure out, it felt like I got traded to a new team, because I was still getting used to the new systems. Obviously when a team has 40-plus games of history together, and then I get put into the mix, it takes a minute to find your spot. I think the last probably 10 games it\u2019s kind of come together for me. I still think there\u2019s times where things are different each night but I think that\u2019ll continue to settle in. I think I had some really good games right off the bat when I got back and the puck didn\u2019t go in. Eventually it does, if you stick with it. That\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned throughout my career. I\u2019ve been through a million slumps, and I\u2019ve been through a million hot streaks at this point. One usually follows the other. The big thing that you try and make the peaks as long as possible in the valleys as short as possible.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on defensively in third periods that\u2019s allowing these teams to come back and tie it up? Is it just you guys still learning a defensive system or what\u2019s the issue?<\/p>\n

Duchene: No, it\u2019s nothing doing with any of that. The St. Louis game, we didn\u2019t play well in the third and they came back. The Vegas game, we gave up seven shots in the third period. One was a shorthanded goal. I\u2019m trying to remember the other one, but kind of a fluky one where they score right at the end where three or four things happen that were kind of ridiculous bad luck for us, and ends up in the net. The other thing is too, when another team presses, it\u2019s tough to hold them off. And the biggest thing I think we\u2019ve learned through this is you can\u2019t go into prevent defense mode. I don\u2019t think you can in any sport, to be honest. I mean, how many times do we watch a football team sit back and let a team get into field goal range and just kick a field goal like it\u2019s crazy how much that happens. So I think it\u2019s human nature to go into that. And when a team is pressing and they\u2019re taking more risks than usual, and you\u2019re taking less risks. So a lot of the time, who\u2019s going to be the team that ends up coming up with that big play? Well, it\u2019s a team that\u2019s on their toes, right? So it happens every single night in hockey. I mean, St. Louis lost 6-5 last night after being up 5-1 to a team that\u2019s not high in the standings in Nashville, so I think it\u2019s a mentality thing. It\u2019s staying on your toes, it\u2019s pushing forward, and you can\u2019t sit back and just defend all game. The league\u2019s too good. There\u2019s too many good players, and you just keep taking on water like that, the other team just feels better and better and better and gets in a flow. It\u2019s a game of momentum, and it\u2019s a game of pushes and I think we, over those games where teams might have scored a couple on us, we did have some better play throughout. I mean, you give up seven shots in Vegas and give up three goals, that\u2019s not really an indictment of your game. I think it\u2019s just a situational thing.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Are you back to feeling 100% with your legs back under you since your return from the concussion?<\/p>\n

Duchene: I would say, it took me three games to really feel physically comfortable where I wasn\u2019t skittish at all. I mean, the first game, first period, I was scared to death to get hit again, because you go through something that traumatic, I think it\u2019s human nature, and then that goes away, and then you start realizing how much time and space you have, and then on and on and on. I would say the confidence and my rhythm and feel with the puck was something that kind of was up and down. I\u2019d have games where I was like, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m me tonight,\u201d and then I\u2019d have games where I\u2019m like, \u201cMan, I haven\u2019t had a sniff of anything good here in a while.\u201d Sometimes it\u2019s a product of the game, and a product of if your line\u2019s going or not, and a product of, if there\u2019s a bunch of penalties, and you\u2019re sitting there watching the penalty kill the whole time. There\u2019s a whole bunch of different variables. When you\u2019re trying to catch a catch up to a moving train that can really hamper that. I think right now my confidence is kind of where it\u2019s been when I\u2019ve been at the top of my game the last couple years. It feels good. I think for me, it\u2019s a shorter season because I missed over a quarter of it. All I\u2019m thinking about is getting to where I want to be come playoff time. I mean, it\u2019s kind of a foregone conclusion we\u2019re going to play Minnesota. We\u2019re either going to have home ice or not, and then if we win that series, we\u2019re going to Colorado. Everybody knows it. It\u2019s pretty plain right now. You never want to look far ahead. You want to be kind of where your feet are. But at the same time, you know what the challenge is coming up, and you want to be ready for that. And for me, I had a lot of big goals coming into the season. I wanted to make that Olympic team and I knew I was kind of in the mix for that, and then you get hurt, and you have no chance of that anymore, and you got to kind of grieve that, because it\u2019s probably my last chance. It will be my last chance, the next time it comes around, I\u2019ll be 39 years old, right? And barring something crazy, I don\u2019t remember the last time a player that age made that team, especially with all the young talent the league. Watching 25 games is horrible. I mean, it felt like I missed 105 games. It\u2019s brutal. Like showing up to the rink at home at 7 o\u2019clock for a game in your street clothes and you got a workout going on that night, and your eyes are messed up and everything. I mean, it was tough. It was a tough stretch. And I\u2019m just really excited to be, even when the pucks weren\u2019t bouncing and we were losing games, I was still much happier dealing with that kind of stress than I was dealing with what I had going on before.<\/p>\n

With so many of your teammates off to the Olympics, how are you going to take things in? Are you going to cheer for your country or do you cheer for your teammates along the way?<\/p>\n

Duchene: I haven\u2019t given it too much thought, to be honest. Obviously, I\u2019m Canadian first, and you always want to see Canada stand on top of the hockey world. We\u2019ve basically been there for the last three best-on-best tournaments, and I\u2019d love to see that again. But at the same time, I hope all my teammates do well. If the US wins, or Finland wins, I\u2019ll be so happy for those guys, or Czech or obviously Canada with [Thomas Harley]. You know, what? Here\u2019s the other thing too, that I hope guys realize: First, second or third, you come away with an Olympic medal, that\u2019s special. I know everyone wants to win, and you don\u2019t win silver, you lose gold, as they say. But at the same time, if one of the fellas ends up bringing home a silver medal, or a few of them, or bronze is pretty special. And the Olympics is, for me, probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, unfortunately, because we didn\u2019t go for 12 years. But at the same time, I\u2019m so grateful I got to go. And it\u2019s probably the greatest accomplishment of my my life is just making that team and getting to go to that Olympics, and I\u2019m hoping I trump that with a Stanley Cup in the next few years. But until then it\u2019s a special thing, and I just hope all those guys enjoy it.<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a difficult season for Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene after he missed a significant portion of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[301,147,5,2876,161,38,5280,4,43,197,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-444449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-matt-duchene","12":"tag-minnesota","13":"tag-minnesota-wild","14":"tag-minnesotawild","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-stars","18":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116010202811709725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}