Dallas Stars Head to Minnesota to take on the Wild
The Dallas Stars (4-2-4) will visit the Xcel Energy Center to take on the Minnesota Wild (6-3-0) on Saturday November 1st. The Stars lost last night’s game in overtime against the Anaheim Ducks in Dallas and immediately got on a plane to fly to St. Paul.
Records and Scores
The Minnesota Wild are tied with Dallas at 12 points, but are considered third in the Central Division because they’ve played one less game. They most recently beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 on October 30th. The Wild have been led by left wing Zach Parise who has amassed a team leading eight points in nine games.
Dallas, on the other hand, is desperately trying to maintain some sort of consistency in this young season. Dallas lost in overtime against the Anaheim Ducks last night, 2-1. Despite their subpar record the Stars have had stellar performances by their top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza collectively tallying 38 points in only ten games.
Story Lines
This game is a match-up of Central Division rivals and two teams that expect to find themselves in the mix for playoff contention come season’s end. Both the Wild and the Stars were last year’s wild cards in the Western Conference; however, Dallas was eliminated in their first round match-up against Anaheim and the Wild lost out to Chicago in the second round.
Tonight’s game will also test the focus of the Minnesota Wild team after left wing Thomas Vanek was once again accused of being involved in a gambling ring. This is the second accusation against Vanek in regards to gambling this year, having been under investigation since July 21st for involvement in another illegal gambling ring. Vanek has no goals and seven assists through the first nine games of the season.
Injury Report
Dallas has already seen an abundance of injuries only ten games into this season. Val Nichushkin (hip) has been taken off of IR and was sent to the Texas Stars of the AHL for a conditioning stint earlier this week. The team has two weeks to recall him to play in the NHL, so he should be back in the line-up within that time.
Sergei Gonchar (ankle) has made strides since sustaining the injury and is now skating, but it doesn’t look like he will play until next week at the earliest. Rich Peverley (heart) is on long term IR and Patrik Nemeth (laceration to the arm) is out for at least the remainder of the regular season.
Minnesota’s Keith Ballard and Christian Folin are both on IR for illness, while Erik Haula and Jonas Brodin are day-to-day with upper body injuries they both sustained in their October 27th match-up against the New York Rangers. Josh Harding broke his foot back in September and is supposed to be out for a few months. Jared Spurgeon is expected to be out for a couple of games with an undisclosed injury and Matt Cooke (lower body) didn’t play against San Jose on Thursday night and is questionable for tonight.
Projected Lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Ryan Garbutt
Erik Cole – Shawn Horcoff – Colton Scevior
Patrick Eaves – Vernon Fiddler – Ales Hemsky
Trevor Daley – Alex Goligoski
Brenden Dillon – Jordie Benn
Kevin Connauton – Jamie Oleksiak
Kari Lehtonen
Anders Lindback
Minnesota Wild
Zach Parise – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker – Mikko Koivu – Charlie Coyle
Thomas Vanek – Kyle Brodziak – Nino Niederreriter
Stephane Veilleux – Ryan Carter – Justin Fontaine
Ryan Suter – Jonas Brodin*
Marco Scandella – Matthew Dumba
Nate Prosser – Justin Falk
Niklas Backstrom
Ilya Bryzgalov
*game time decision
Prediction
Following the lackluster game last night I anticipate the Stars making a greater effort in tonight’s match-up. Head Coach Lindy Ruff will make sure the team is more prepared to play and we’ll be seeing Dallas Stars-style hockey. I anticipate the offense for Dallas picking up again in this game and a hard fought effort will lead them to a 3-2 regulation victory and sole possession of third in the Central Division.
Do you think the Stars can get the full two points tonight? Be sure to check Blackout for a post-game recap and analysis!