The Dallas Stars' playoff checklist looks a little rough right now.

• Healthy team? Uh no. Mike Ribeiro (flu) and Brad Richards (soreness) both missed Friday's game, and Steve Ott left the game because of the flu.

• Goalie on top of his game? Not quite. Marty Turco was burned on two breakaways and lost a game in which the Stars outshot Phoenix, 32-21 (and beat them ,64-28, on shot opportunities).

• Offense clicking? Not even close. The Stars were all over goalie Mikael Tellqvist but could only come up with goals by defensemen Philippe Boucher and Trevor Daley.

So while Dallas' 4-2 loss to the Coyotes at American Airlines Center cost the Stars the chance to fight for fourth place and home ice in the first round of the playoffs, the real concern was the fact that the team has some work to do before it starts the postseason in Anaheim next week.

"We did a lot of good things on the ice, and we were a little short-handed tonight," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said, trying to find positives. "But there's not a lot of hockey left, and we better find something else in the tank, because that wasn't very good tonight."

The Stars had a patchwork lineup and are preparing for the start of the playoffs without Sergei Zubov. They also were playing on back-to-back nights. Still, Phoenix was doing the same thing, and it came up with the big plays.

Tough guy Daniel Carcillo finished with a hat trick as he beat Turco from the slot on the rush and with a slick backhand move on a breakaway. Turco also was faked out by Phoenix's Martin Hanzal on a breakaway.

"We only gave up six chances, and they scored on three," Stars coach Dave Tippett said when asked about Turco's performance. "Could we have used a save on a breakaway? Yeah, sure. But we shouldn't be giving up breakaways."

Tippett was more frustrated with the offense than the defense.

"We dominated the game," he said. "We just didn't score."

But the bottom line is when the playoffs start, the Stars are going to have to find a way to score, they're going to have to find a way to stop the puck, and they're going to have to find a way to fight through illness and injuries. And right now, that's a battle every night for this team.

"I think everybody individually needs to find what works best for them," Morrow said. "We've been playing hockey for a long time, so we should each know how to prepare ourselves."

That process will probably start Sunday with the season finale against the Sharks.

"The thing we need to worry about is to have a healthy team next week," Boucher said. "Sure, it would be nice to have a good performance against San Jose, but all that matters is that you have yourself ready for next week. What's necessary is to show up in Anaheim come Thursday night."