UPDATE 11:20 AM CDT

With Kari Lehtonen injured, the Stars have recalled Jack Campbell to back up Dan Ellis tonight in Minnesota.


GAME PREVIEW (4:30 AM CDT)

Looking to build an early-season three-game winning streak, the Dallas Stars (2-1-0) are in action for the second time in as many nights. Following a 4-1 victory in Winnipeg on Friday night, the Stars head to their franchise's ancestral home state of Minnesota to take on the Wild (1-1-2). Game time is 7 p.m. central. The game will be televised locally on TXA 21.

This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Minnesota.

STARS OUTLOOK

The second game night of back-to-back matches has been a sore spot for Dallas in each of the last two seasons. A big part of the problem: the unavailability of Kari Lehtonen in most of the followup games and a steep drop-off between the quality of the Dallas starter and his backups. The Stars have also struggled the last couple years whenever Lehtonen has missed time with injuries (usually groin pulls).

The need for an upgrade in goaltending depth is a big part of the reason why the Stars acquired veteran Dan Ellis in the offseason to back up Lehtonen.

On Friday night, Lehtonen (21 saves on 21 shots) was off to his third consecutive strong outing of the young season. Unfortunately, he sustained a lower-body injury and had to leave the Jets game at 14:30 of the second period. Ellis (22 saves on 23 shots) came in to play the rest of the game, and the team did not skip a beat.

Any fears that the Stars would get off to a slow first period in their first game back after a five-night break were laid aside quickly. Dallas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period and never looked back.

Tyler Seguin had a monster game for the Stars on Friday, figuring in every goal Dallas scored between his two goals and two assists. Jamie Benn (one goal, two assists) had a three-point night while Alex Chiasson scored for the third straight game this season and for the ninth time in his 10-game NHL career to date.

While the Stars don't want to make a habit of yielding so many shots to opponents, much of Friday's 44-31 shot disadvantage stemmed from Dallas jumping out that commanding early lead and the Jets trying to push the attack. That was especially true in the third period.


WILD OUTLOOK

The Wild are coming off a 2-1 home win over Winnipeg on Thursday. Despite the narrow margin of victory, Minnesota actually controlled much the game. The Wild outshot the Jets by a 30-15 margin, and won 45 of the game's 61 faceoffs.

Jonas Brodin got the Wild off to an early lead. After a late first period tying goal by Winnipeg on a power play deflection by Bryan Little, Minnesota re-took the lead for good midway through the second. Matt Cooke, who also assisted on the Brodin goal, notched the game winner.

Josh Harding made 14 saves for the win on Thursday. As is the case with Lehtonen, usual Wild starter Niklas Bäckström is sidelined day-to-day with lower body injury.



PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

STARS

14 Jamie Benn - 91 Tyler Seguin - 17 Rich Peverley
13 Ray Whitney -20 Cody Eakin - 12 Alex Chiasson
21 Antoine Roussel - 10 Shawn Horcoff - 72 Erik Cole
16 Ryan Garbutt - 38 Vernon Fiddler - 43 Valeri Nichushkin

4 Brenden Dillon - 3 Stephane Robidas
33 Alex Goligoski - 55 Sergei Gonchar
24 Jordie Benn - 6 Trevor Daley

30 Dan Ellis
[Jack Campbell]

Possible scratches: Lane MacDermid (healthy), Kevin Connauton (healthy), Chris Mueller (healthy), Kari Lehtonen (lower body, day-to-day), Aaron Rome (IR, hip surgery), Scott Glennie (IR, knee).


WILD (per Dailyfaceoff.com)

11 Zach Parise- 9 Mikko Koivu - 22 Nino Niederreiter
15 Dany Heatley - 64 Mikael Granlund- 29 Jason Pominville
24 Matt Cooke - 21 Kyle Brodziak - 14 Justin Fontaine
17 Torrey Mitchell - 28 Zenon Konopka - 19 Stephane Veilleux

20 Ryan Suter - 25 Jonas Brodin
6 Marco Scandella - 46 Jared Spurgeon
2 Keith Ballard - 4 Clayton Stoner


37 Josh Harding
[35 Darcy Kuemper]

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