Dallas Stars Look To Stifle Wild In St. Paul
After holding down the first two on home ice, the Dallas Stars will look to improve their 2 game lead as they take round one to Minnesota.
Puck drop for game three will be at 7:30 pm from the Xcel Energy Center. And between Fox Sports Southwest, CNBC, and 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket, you won’t have to miss a minute.
Storylines
Turning tides?
The Dallas Stars had the obvious benefit of home ice for the first two games of Round one, which they used to their full advantage. Now, it’s time to travel to St. Paul. Vernon Fiddler commented that this is likely to be the Stars’ hardest game yet, having to be on their A-game in front of the Wild’s home crowd.
The Stars took game one with little resistance, with a sizzling final score of 4-0. Game two saw the Wild fighting back a bit, but ending 2-1 Dallas, with some help from a favorable Toronto review of Roussel’s footsy-goal.
Since the Stars will be losing their home advantage tonight, they need to make sure to retain confidence in their strongest areas of play.
Lehtonen’s just not lettin’ ‘em in.
Kari Lehtonen has been astounding so far in Round one, which is just what we’ve all been hoping to see from him. He has been giving the Wild the same treatment that the Stars have gotten in many regular-season games against teams with brick-wall goaltenders. Lehtonen and the defense has been maintaining their mental game, and it shows.
Musical chairs
Look for the Dallas Stars to be shuffling some forwards around in game three. While Tyler Seguin returned in game two from his Achilles injury, he’s clearly not 100%. Ruff indicated that Mattias Janmark will likely get his time in the spotlight in tonight’s game. While the Stars are switching things up, the Wild have also recalled defenseman Mike Reilly, who may get his playoff debut tonight.
Going in for the kill
The Wild has only scored one goal this round, and it was on the power play. While the Stars have been stellar, some tightening of the penalty kill and more detailed attention to avoiding penalties will help them make up for any disadvantages brought about by trying to best Minnesota on their turf.
Injury Report
Dallas Stars
For the first time this season, it seems, the Stars are all back to good working order. Now that this is the case, the Stars have reassigned Brett Ritchie to Texas.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild seem to be suffering in the absence of Zach Parise (upper body) and Thomas Vanek (upper body), and will have to carry on without them tonight as well.
Projected Lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn –Cody Eakin –Tyler Seguin
Valeri Nichushkin –Jason Spezza –Patrick Sharp
Antoine Roussel –Radek Faksa –Ales Hemsky
Colton Sceviour/ Mattias Janmark –Vernon Fiddler –Patrick Eaves
Alex Goligoski –John Klingberg
Minnesota Wild
Mikael Granlund –Mikko Koivu –David Jones
Jason Zucker –Charlie Coyle –Justin Fontaine
Nino Niederreiter –Erik Haula –Jason Pominville
Ryan Carter –Jarret Stoll –Chris Porter
Next: Dallas Stars' Playoff Resurgence Coming At Right Time
Predictions
Despite the away-ice disadvantage, the Stars understand that they have a lot of work still left to do. Hanging onto this mindset and the determination that gave them such an outstanding season, the Dallas Stars will take game three in Minnesota 3-1.