Minnesota Wild @ Dallas Stars – Game Preview

Good morning Stars fans, who is ready for an afternoon contest?  The Dallas Stars (6-6-4) will try to extend their current winning streak to three as they head home to Dallas to take on the Wild (8-7-0).  The puck drops at 1:00PM CT and you can find the game on Fox Sports Southwest or on 1310AM the Ticket.

Record and Scores

The Stars are trying to build on some positive momentum and two fantastic games from Kari Lehtonen.  They have won two in a row and Lehtonen is coming off a shutout of the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.  A shutout isn’t something you would have expected to see from the porous Stars defense, but since the addition of John Klingberg the entire defensive group has played really well.  They will look to continue that success this afternoon and win their third in a row.

The Wild opened the season very strong but have gone 1-4 in their last 5 games to drop to 8-7.  In that 5 game stretch, they have played against only Eastern Conference opponents and their only victory has come against the lowly Buffalo Sabres.  The Wild have yet to lose against a Central division opponent and they will try to extend that streak today.

Storylines

Defense!

The Stars defense has played fantastic the past two games and what do you know, they are winning.  This team has the offensive weapons to score and they have lost just one game where the opponent has scored two goals or less.  If the Stars are going to win and keep this run going, it is going to be because of the defense and the play of Kari Lehtonen.  He has been superb the past two games, winning both of them while stopping 51 of 54 shots and posting a shutout.  John Klingberg has been playing quite well since joining the Stars and his right-handed presence may have evened out the Stars defense a bit.  Obviously there will be growing pains, but the transition has looked good so far.

Offense..

The Wild have lost four of their past five and the offensive output has completely dried up.  They destroyed Buffalo 6-3, but before that they managed just three total goals against the Penguins, Senators, Canadiens and Devils.  Zach Parise has been out of the lineup and the rest of their offensive stars have just had trouble producing of late.  They are hoping the demolition of the Sabres will spring their stars back to life against Dallas today.

Injury Report

Patrick Eaves sustained a lower body injury against the Kings and will be out today.  Val Nichushkin (hip/groin) and Patrik Nemeth (arm) are out for Dallas.

Marco Scandella and Jonas Brodin are both battling an  illness for the Wild and will be unavailable today.  Zach Parise (concussion) and Matt Cooke (lower body) are also out.

Projected Lines

Dallas Stars

Jamie Benn – Jason Spezza – Tyler Seguin

Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Ryan Garbutt

Curtis McKenzie – Vernon Fiddler – Ales Hemsky

Erik Cole – Shawn Horcoff – Colton Sceviour

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg

Jordie Benn – Trevor Daley

Brenden Dillon – Jamie Oleksiak

Kari Lehtonen

Anders Lindback

Minnesota Wild

Thomas Vanek – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville

Ryan Carter – Mikko Koivu – Charlie Coyle

Nino Niedderreiter – Erik Haula – Justin Fontaine

Stephane Vielleux – Kyle Brodziak – Jason Zucker

Suter

The rest of their defensive pairs are a complete mystery as two of their regulars will be out with an illness.  They called up Justin Falk from Iowa to help out.

Darcy Kuemper

Niklas Backstrom

Prediction

The Wild are struggling and the Stars are starting to pick it up.  The Stars are desperate for a win at home and I think it shows today.  Behind the first career NHL goal of Curtis McKenzie, the Stars find a way to close out a home game and win 3-2.  Be sure to check back here after the game for postgame analysis!