Wild Game Day number 41 Wild Record (21-11-8 50 pts) Road Record (7-6-6)
Opponent: Dallas Stars (29-10-4 62 pts) Home Record (17-4-0)
Site: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 11/1 Stars 1 @ Wild 4 11/15 Wild 2 @ Stars 1 11/28 Wild 5 @ Stars 4 (OT) 1/3 Wild 1 @ Stars 7 2/22 Stars 2 @ Wild 6
Last Result: 11/14 Wild 2 @ Stars 3 (OT) 11/28 Stars 4 @ Wild 3 (OT) 12/21 Stars 6 @ Wild 3
The Wild take a quick trip to Dallas to take on the Central Division leading Stars. The Stars have taken all three meetings this season, the first two in OT. The most recent meeting saw the Wild jump out to an early 2-0 lead, before Lindy Ruff pulled his starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen, and replaced him with Antti Niemi. The move ignited the Stars as they scored four unanswered goals, and went on to win 6-3.
The Stars seem to have the Wild's number this season after the Wild took 4 of the 5 meetings a year ago. The first meeting this season was a seesaw affair with Dallas eventually winning in OT on a John Klingberg goal. The last two meetings, both in St. Paul, had the Wild blow 3-0 and 2-0 leads as the Stars came back to win the first 4-3 in OT, and the aforementioned 6-3 victory back on December 21st.
The last meeting may have been the worst display of hockey the Wild have played all season. They got a couple soft goals and then stopped attacking the Stars net. They played a very soft game drawing no Dallas penalties and mounting very little sustained attack. The shots did favor the Wild 35-34 but the quality of those attempts were not exactly of a high percentage nature.
This is a key game for the Wild as they try to make there move up the division standings. The Stars have the top scoring offense, which is well documented, led by Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. The achilles heel though, is on the back end and in between the pipes. The Wild will have opportunities for sure, the question mark will be how well they work to exploit them.
Look for the Wild to come out with a much inspired game plan from the outset tonight. Mike Yeo's challenge will be how he keeps the team playing at that level for the full 60 minutes, as we have yet to see that in the previous three meetings with Dallas. The line juggling is a nightly occurrence for the Wild of late and that can absolutely work to the team's advantage. The fresh look helps to keep the players sharp as they have to maintain a simpler approach, and also presenta a bit of a challenge to their opponent's line match up capabilities.
Mike Reilly was recalled from Iowa and could make his much anticipated NHL debut tonight in big D. From some of the comments from Mike Yeo, concerning Reilly's recall, lead me to believe he will be in the lineup against the Stars. Yeo was quoted "I want to see him show us what he's got if he plays" and "you only get one chance to play your first NHL game, and if he does, I want him to take advantage of it and play to make a difference" Sounds to me like tonight is the night we see Mike Reilly in the Wild lineup.
Big game for the Wild, two points up for grabs. This needs to be a statement game of sorts for the Wild. They have been up and down a bit of late getting a few points in the standings but leaving several more on the table. Tonight it us time to pin the ears back and get going to the Stars net with a vengeance. No let up tonight equals two huge points.
Let's Play Hockey!