STARS VS. WILD GAME PREVIEW
Holding a tenuous one-point lead over Phoenix in the race for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars (30-23-10) will play host to the Minnesota Wild (34-21-7) tonight at the American Airlines Center on Mike Modano Night.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. Central. The retirement ceremony for Modano's famous number 9 jersey will take place at 6 o'clock. The match will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season series between the two teams. The Stars are 1-1-1 to date. On Oct 12 in St. Paul, the Stars got pummeled by a 5-1 count. The teams met again in a home-and-home set on Jan. 18 in Minnesota at Jan. 21 in Dallas. They split the two games, with the Wild winning 3-2 in overtime in the first match and the Stars capturing a convincing 4-0 victory in the return game.
The Stars are 9-3-2 over their last 14 games and 7-2-1 in their last 10 at home heading into tonight. They are coming off a 6-1 blowout of the reeling Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Tyler Seguin had a monster night with a hat trick and two assists for the Stars. Jamie Benn notched a goal and an assist, as did defenseman Alex Goligoski. Checking line forward Ryan Garbutt tallied his 12th goal of the season. With newly acquired Tim Thomas serving as the backup, starting netminder Kari Lehtonen turned aside 32 of 33 shots for Dallas.
A big part of the Stars' recent success has been the way Lindy Ruff's team has elevated its team defense while Lehtonen continues to give the club excellent goaltending on most nights. Over the last 14 games, the Stars have allowed just 24 goals (1.71 GAA).
The Wild have also been very hard to score against of late, yielding just six goals in the last five games. Minnesota brings a five-game winning streak into tonight's game, including a 3-0-0 mark since the Olympic break.
The Wild are coming off a four-night break in the schedule, having downed Calgary by a 3-2 count in St. Paul on Monday.Four nights off is a little longer than is typically ideal for a streaking club, but it has given Mike Yeo's team a chance to get in a few practices with their trade deadline acquisitions Matt Moulson, Cody McCormick and Ilya Bryzgalov.
Dallas is all too familiar with Moulson's goal scoring talents, even though he has played for Eastern Conference teams until the trade. In his final game with the New York Islanders prior to going to the Buffalo Sabres in the Thomas Vanek trade, Moulson tallied two goals. He also made his Buffalo debut against the Stars, notching two more goals.
On the Minnesota injury front, left winger Jason Zucker (lower body) and goaltender Jason Harding (IR, illness) are unavailable.