Dallas Stars Host Minnesota Wild in Playoff Opener
The Dallas Stars ended the season last week atop the Central Division with a win over the Nashville Predators on Fan Appreciation Night. While they earned the most points in the Western Conference, the bigger task is ahead.
Tonight the Stars will host the Minnesota Wild in game one of their Stanley Cup bid. Puck drop is set for 8:30p.m. and the game can be seen on NBCSN or Fox Sports Southwest.
Records and Scores
The season series between the Wild and the Stars saw Dallas have the upper hand, winning four of five match-ups. The games, however, were all one-goal decisions except for a 6-3 game on December 21st that saw the Stars’ scoring ability on display.
It’s important to note that an advantage in the regular season series has little to do with the playoffs purely because of how spread out the match-ups are throughout the year.
Story Lines
Beginner’s Luck?
The Dallas Stars haven’t been to the playoffs since 2014 and that was only a brief six-game stint that found them eliminated before the end of April. Other than that, the Stars have been inexperienced in the postseason world of hockey.
Given the youth of the group this season as well, it’s more common than not to have very limited playoff experiences. The addition of Antti Niemi, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya, Dallas added valuable postseason veterans, but they still remain relatively new.
More from Dallas Stars News
- Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
- Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
- Dallas Stars prospects look to wrap up tournament with a win
- Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
- Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs
Jamie Benn has done a lot of great things in his career, but he has only participated in those six match-ups two short years ago. John Klingberg will be making his playoff debut tonight, as will a myriad of other Dallas Stars rookies.
While the inexperience isn’t necessarily a disadvantage, the pressure and intensity of a seven-game series in which Dallas earned home ice may overwhelm some of the line-up. The key to success is to not focus too much on what’s at stake and instead focus on the task at hand.
Home Ice
Another key to tonight’s game is taking advantage of home ice. A split between the first two games gives the momentum to the Wild and would make Dallas’ path to the second round that much more difficult.
That requires them to remove their thoughts from fear or anticipation or excitement and focus solely on their game. They’ve been so successful this season playing Dallas Stars hockey and they’ll continue to get results if that continue to do so.
Injuries
Dallas will play without Brett Ritchie (lower-body) in the line-up. It seems as if Tyler Seguin (achilles tendon) will play, but that could change at game time.
The Wild will be without Zach Parise (back) and Thomas Vanek (upper-body) and could possibly be missing Erik Haula (lower-body) from the line-up as well.
Line Combinations
Dallas Stars*
Jamie Benn – Cody Eakin – Patrick Sharp
Valeri Nichushkin – Jason Spezza – Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Ales Hemsky
Travis Moen – Vernon Fiddler – Colton Sceviour
Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya – Stephen Johns
Kris Russell – Jason Demers
Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi
*The forward line combinations do not include Seguin or Mattias Janmark, although they might play.
Minnesota Wild
Jason Zucker – Mikko Koivu – Charlie Coyle
Nino Niederreiter – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville
Chris Porter – Zac Dalpe – David Jones
Ryan Carter – Jarret Stoll – Justin Fontaine
Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Marco Scandella – Jonas Brodin
Nate Prosser – Mathew Dumba
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Prediction
The Dallas Stars will be intimidated by the pressure of the playoffs, but will build off of the energy in the American Airlines Center to beat the Wild 3-2 in overtime.