The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild begin their season series with a Saturday night battle in St. Paul.
Fresh off of two dominant wins, the Dallas Stars head out on a one-game road trip to St. Paul to take on the Central Division rival Minnesota Wild.
Not only are the Stars and Wild rivals over a recent contentious playoff series and a whole lot of franchise history in the past, but the Wild are ahead of the Stars in the standings currently and Dallas needs all the points they can get so they don't get fall too far behind Minnesota and Winnipeg, who are both off to hot starts.
The Wild have been surprisingly strong to begin the 2024-25 season. They currently have 25 points sitting just behind the Jets Central Division with a record of 11-2-3. The Stars, who sit in third in the Central Division, have 20 points and are 10-5-0 going into tonight's game.
The Stars are coming off two big games where they scored seven goals in both. It seems as though whatever was holding Dallas back to begin the season has left through and are finding their game with the depth and skills they knew they had. However, the Wild are coming off a 3-0 shut out win over the Montreal Canadiens.
The Wild have gotten a lot of help to start the season off from Kirill Kaprizov, who is second in the NHL in points with 30. Unfortunately for Kaprizov, it was just announced that his linemate Mats Zuccarello would be out three to four weeks with an injury. Zuccarello, who has 14 points in 16 games, has been Kaprizov's right-hand man for several years. This is a big blow to the Wild, who are trying to build on their early momentum.
What to watch for:
- Jake Oettinger is from Lakeville, Minnesota and grew up watching the Wild. However, if Oettinger loves anything more than playing near his hometown with a lot of supporters, it is playing the villain to those fans he grew up near. Oettinger is 5-1-0 against the Wild in his career with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .913% save percentage.
- The line of Matt Duchene, Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment has been almost unstoppable. Between the three of them, they have recorded 15 points in the last two games, including a five point night by Marchment against the Penguins. Seguin has 50 points against the Wild in 44 career games.
- Kaprizov has been on a tear this season, with 30 points in 16 games. The Stars will have to know where he is on the ice at all times. However, it seems that he is doing most of the damage for Minnesota. There is a pretty large gap in points after Kaprizov, with Matt Boldy in second with only 17 points.
Another layer to the saga is the Stars signing of former Wild player Matt Dumba during the off-season. Dumba was not only on the Wild during the height of the contentious playoff series, but a good source of it after the unfortunate hit to the head on Joe Pavelski during the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple seasons ago. However, the Stars have not been happy about his recent play and he has found himself in the press box for the last two games.
Projected lines:
Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Steel-Back-Bourque
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lybushkin
Smith-Dumba
Oettinger
DeSmith
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. CDT and can be seen on Victory+ locally and ESPN+ in out of market areas.
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