STARS VS. WILD ABBREVIATED GAME PREVIEW
Desperate to turn around a nightmarish month of January that has seen the club post a record of 1-8-1 record to date, the Dallas Stars (21-20-8) are back home at the American Airlines Center to take on the Minnesota Wild (27-19-5). Game time is 7:00 p.m. The match will be televised nationally in the U.S. on NBC Sports Network and in Canada on TSN2.
This is the third of four games in the season series, and the first of two in Dallas. On Oct. 12, the Wild routed Dallas by a 5-1 score. Three nights ago, the Stars played a generally solid game against the Wild but went down to a 3-2 defeat in overtime.
In Saturday's game in St. Paul, Alex Chiasson broke a 19-game goal drought by scoring the tying goal midway through the third period. Earlier in the game, Ryan Garbutt's 10th goal of the season tied the game at 1-1 in the second period. Kari Lehtonen stopped 16 of 19 shots in a losing cause. Dallas outshot Minnesota by a 35-19 margin for the game.
Last night in Nashville, Cody Eakin's early first period power play goal gave the Stars an early 1-0 advantage but that was Dallas' lone offensive highlight in what turned into a 4-1 loss. After the Predators tied the game, a late first period goal by defenseman Shea Weber and a tally by defenseman Roman Josi in the final minute of the middle frame built a multi-goal lead for Nashville. Lehtonen stopped 19 of 23 shots. Dallas generated 36 shots against Carter Hutton.
The Stars have scored more than two goals just once in the last seven games and have yielded three or more regulation or overtime goals in seven games.
For the Wild, tonight's game is the back end of a home-and-home with the Stars. The club has had the last two nights off since the overtime win on Saturday. Minnesota has played much better hockey this month after staggering through the latter part of December. The Wild are 7-2-0 for the month to date.
Both of Minnesota's top two goalies are unavailable for tonight's game. Josh Harding is still sidelined with issues related to his multiple sclerosis. Niklas Bà¤ckström is day-to-day with a lower body injury. Darcy Kuemper, the winning goaltender in Saturday's game, will return to the net tonight.
Additionally, Zach Parise (fractured foot) and Mikko Koivu (ankle) are still sidelined for the Wild along with defenseman Jared Spurgeon (foot). Top-pairing defenseman Stephane Robidas (fractured tibia) remains shelved for the Stars.