GLENDALE, Ariz. – Dave Tippett knows his job won't be an easy one in Phoenix. But he also knows that it's a job that can have a happy ending.

The Coyotes are just coming out of bankruptcy court, have a bunch of young players and will probably be on the low end of the payroll scale for a few years to come. Despite these factors, Tippett said he's happy to have taken over the rebuilding team.

The former Stars coach, who was fired after last season, has only been on the job since September with the Coyotes, but likes what he sees.

"We have a good base and we have some solid veterans and good goaltending, and that's really encouraging," Tippett said. "It's a process, but we feel like we're heading in the right direction."

The Coyotes were off to a 9-4-0 start before a recent 1-4-0 slump. The downturn in results was directly related to injuries to veteran defensemen Ed Jovanovski, Zbynek Michalek and Kurt Sauer, but Tippett said the team has to be able to fight through injury situations. He experienced the same situation last season, and said the best way to get through it was to put your head down and plow ahead.

"They still play the games, so you have to find a way," he said. "If that's simplifying things or getting some big efforts from players who don't have as much experience, then that's what you have to do."

The NHL has taken over ownership of the team and commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to be in Glendale on Monday to discuss the situation with city officials. He could also possibly talk to local investors at that time.

"We're looking forward here," Tippett said.

Sutherby out: Stars forward Brian Sutherby suffered a groin injury in practice Friday and the groin tightened up overnight, so he was held out of Saturday's game. He joined Fabian Brunnstrom (shoulder) and Jere Lehtinen (groin) on the bench, and the Stars played seven defensemen.

Mark Fistric was moved to a forward spot and Jeff Woywitka came in and played on defense beside Trevor Daley.

Briefly: When Mike Modano scored in the second period, he passed Maurice "Rocket" Richard on the all-time NHL goal-scoring list. Modano now has 545 career regular season goals, 27th most in league history ... The Stars are in the middle of a stretch where they are playing games on 12 consecutive Saturdays from Oct. 17 until Jan. 2. Dallas is 117-72-25 on Saturdays in franchise history ... D Karlis Skrastins played in his 698th career game Saturday.