Wild Game Day number 37 Wild Record (18-15-3 39 pts) Home Record (10-4-2)
Opponent: Dallas Stars (20-14-3 43 pts) Road Record (8-10-2)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Result: 10/29 Stars 0 @ Wild 4 11/21 Wild 2 @ Stars 3 (OT) 1/14 Wild 5 @ Stars 4 1/24 Wild 3 @ Stars 2 (SO) 2/16 Stars 1 @ Wild 3
The Wild return home to the deep freeze of Minnesota, following their disappointing four game road trip that ended with back to back losses in sunny Florida. Although they did drop 3 of4 on the trip, it was not all bad for the team. They had a lead in the third period in Sunrise but could not hold it, and they kept the league's best offense off the board for 57 minutes before eventually losing the game. But in the NHL it is all about the end result. So for that matter it was not a good trip.
Dallas comes to town off two straight wins over Chicago (4-0) and Nashville (4-3 SO) and having gained points in four straight 2-0-2. It is always an anticipated matchup when the Stars return to the State of Hockey, and the animosity that runs deep in the blood of the Minnesota faithful. Tonight will be no different but with the standings as tight as they are the game will take on that much more significance.
The Stars and Wild have had similar seasons to this point, with both experiencing the ups and downs with very little consistency along the way. For Dallas, they made some pretty big news in the offseason with the hiring of Ken Hitchcock, who of course led the Stars to their lone Stanley Cup win back in 1999.
Dallas signed Ben Bishop to sure up their goaltending which had been their most glaring weakness over the last several seasons. Combine that with the addition of Alexander Radulov and former Wild center, Martin Hanzal along with the acquisition of long time Senators defenseman Marc Methot, and the Stars were thought to be a pre-season favorite in the Central Division and Western Conference.
The scary part is the Stars still have Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, John Klingberg, and Jason Spezza. Like the Wild the Stars have managed to tread water through the first 3 months of the season. With the talent that Dallas has assembled though they may very well be poised to make a run in the second half of the season.
Dallas has had a tough time on the road in particular, and tonight face a Wild team that plays much better in front of their home fans.
It will be interesting to see how the Wild come out tonight following their tough, but very disappointing loss in Tampa on Saturday night. The fact is the team needs to play with a greater sense of urgency.
The talent is there for this Wild team to make a run of their own. But it boils down to how hard they are willing to compete and do what it takes to turn the close games into Ws.
Puck luck, breaks, good fortune, calls going your way, call it what you want, the teams that work the hardest also get more of all of the above period. The best teams create their own breaks and good fortune by outworking their opponents most of the time.
That is an area where the Wild cannot say that they have been very good this year. They have not outworked their opposition all that often to date, yet they are just 1 point out of the final Western Conference playoff position.
The road to the playoffs is only now about to heat up. What has occurred so far means very little, but what the Wild have learned about themselves may serve them very well as they move forward and the team returns to full health here over the next week or two.
Expect a lot of close games coming up, how the Wild adjust their game to get themselves over the hump to win a good majority of them will tell us just how far this team can go. The Christmas break may have come at just the right time for Boudreau's team.
No need in calling tonight's game big, because every game is big from here on out. The players know it the coaching staff knows it and of course the fans know it as they brave the sub zero temperatures to bring the heat to the Xcel tonight.
UPDATE: Zach Parise has been sent to Iowa on a rehab assignment. According to Parise he is planning on playing Thursday in Iowa then returning to Minnesota with the possibility of making his season debut for the Wild versus Nashville Friday night.
It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!
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