PREVIEW 12:05 AM CDT
Winners of five in a row with a 10-game point streak (9-0-1), the pressure is the Pacific Division leading Dallas Stars (38-26-5) to keep on winning games in order to preserve the third seed in the Western Conference. Tonight, the Stars begin a tough stretch of three games in four nights with a road tilt against the Minnesota Wild (29-30-10). The game starts at 7:00 p.m. CDT and will be broadcast locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season series between the teams. The Stars have won two of the first three games (once by shootout). Of late, virtually everything has gone right for the Stars and precious little has gone right for the Wild. That makes this a potential trap game for Dallas.
Minnesota enters this game coming off a 4-3 home loss on Sunday to the Calgary Flames. Overall, the Wild have dropped six of their last seven games (1-5-1), including three in a row at home. They've been shut out in three games during that span and have shot blanks (0-for-17) on the power play.
Although no team wants to use injuries as an excuse for losing, the Wild's lineup has become so injury-depleted that staying competitive in the playoff race has become almost an impossible task. Against the Stars, the Wild will remain without team captain and key tone-setter Mikko Koivu (shoulder), starting goalie Niklas Backstrom (groin), forwards Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) and Guillaume Letendresse (concussion) and defenseman Mike Lundin (lower body) and Justin Falk (lower body). Agitating and aggressive hitting forward Cal Clutterbuck is questionable with the flu.
With the key exception of top-pairing defenseman Sheldon Souray (lower body injury), the Stars currently have their full contingent of key players available. Third liner Radek Dvorak went down with an ankle injury last game, and fourth liner Jake Dowell has recovered from a broken finger but is dealing with the flu. The club has called up Texas Stars defenseman Jordie Benn for his second stint with the big club this season.
Kari Lehtonen is coming off a 21-save shutout performance in Saturday's 2-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks. In the absence of Finnish countryman Bäckström, he will be opposed by Matt Hackett for Minnesota.
Over the last two days, the Stars' divisional rivals have picked up points on them while Dallas has been idle. Los Angeles won on Sunday, and San Jose won last night. Phoenix lost to Nashville via shootout last night, but gained one point in the process.
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