Looking for their third straight win and just their second win on home ice this season, the Dallas Stars (6-6-4) return to action at the American Airlines Center for a Saturday matinee against the Minnesota Wild (8-7-0). Game time is 1 p.m. CST. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the second of five meetings between the teams this season. On Nov. 1 in St. Paul, the Stars played one of their worst games of the season and the Wild had little trouble skating off with a 4-1 win. However, the Stars have dominated the Wild in Dallas over the last decade, enjoying a 19-1-0 home record against Minnesota dating back to the 2003-04 season.
The Stars enter this game coming off a 2-0 road shutout win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Kari Lehtonen, who will get the start again today, turned back all 27 shots fired on his net. Ryan Garbutt (goals in back-to-back games) and Jason Spezza provided the goal support.
Today's game features two struggling power plays. Dallas is 2-for-28 on the man advantage over the past seven games. Minnesota has scuffled on power plays the entire season, bringing the NHL's 29th ranked power play (8.3 percent) into the game.
On the Dallas injury front, Patrick Eaves (lower body) left Thursday's game early and did not practice with the team yesterday. He is out for tonight. Likewise, Valeri Nichushkin (hip/groin) and Patrik Nemeth (out for the season with a severe forearm laceration from a skate cut) remain unavailable.
Recently acquired left winger Travis Moen practiced with the team yesterday but is not expected to join the lineup yet. Offseason free agent acquisition Ales Hemsky (zero goals, one assist, minus-seven in 15 games) was a semi-healthy scratch against the Kings but is expected to return to the lineup against the Wild.
Stars leading scorer Tyler Seguin has been on a tear over the past week, compiling a four game point streak in which he's racked up five goals and seven assists. Team captain Jamie Benn had a would-be goal disallowed in the game against the Kings but set up Spezza's goal less than a minute later. Benn has just two points in his last seven games and has scored a goal in the last nine games after a streak of tallying goals in five straight games.
Rookie defenseman John Klingberg has been excellent for Dallas in the two games since he was called up from the AHL's Texas Stars. Klingberg, who narrowly missed scoring the first goal of his NHL career in Thursday's game on a first-period shot that hit the post, was named the third star of the game against the Kings.
Minnesota enters this game feeling a little better about itself after snapping a four-game losing streak on Thursday with a home 6-3 win over the woeful Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Nino Niederreiter notched a hat trick, while Niklas Bà¤ckström (25 saves on 26 shots) earned the win in relief of Darcy Kuemper (zero saves on two shots).
Wild leading scorer Zach Parise (concussion), who has 10 points on the season, did not make the trip to Dallas with the team. Niederreiter leads the club in the goal scoring department with seven.
Apart from Parise, the Minnesota lineup is missing key defenseman Jonas Brodin (illness). Also unavailable are left winger Matt Cooke (lower body injury) and defenseman Marco Scandella (illness).