The Wild has today off and will practice Wednesday before hopping on a charter for a flight down to Dallas.
Today's articles: Zach Parise has a serious back injury and the Wild's proceeding like he won't be playing anytime soon. This story also gets into Erik Haula's injury and Zac Dalpe's possible NHL playoff debut.
Jarret Stoll has been on two No. 8 seeds that upset No. 1 seeds. Good story by Kent Youngblood on Stoll's ingredients for that to happen again.
Here are writers to follow in Dallas on Twitter: @MikeHeika, @StarsInsideEdge and @dfwsportsguy93
Here are the Stars' announcers: @TheVoiceDS, @Razor5Hole
Also, follow @seanshapiro. We've hired Sean, who covers the Texas Stars, to cover Stars morning skates and practices for us throughout the first round.
I will be on KFAN at 9 a.m. in studio and on Thursday at 3 p.m., I'll be hosting a live chat on startribune.com/wild, so please join that.
Here's a look at the Wild and Stars statistically and on the bottom a look back at the season series between the Wild and Stars this year:
No. 1 Dallas Stars vs. No. 8 Minnesota Wild
Records: 50-23-9; 38-33-11
Home: 28-11-2; 21-16-4
Away: 22-12-7; 17-17-7
Goals per game: 3.23 (1st in NHL); 2.60 (18th)
Goals against per game: 2.78 (19th); 2.49 (9th)
Goal differential: +37 (3rd); +10 (T-14th)
Shots per game: 32.0 (T-2nd); 29.0 (23rd)
Shots Against per game: 28.9 (T-9th); 28.6 (7th)
Power play: 22.1 (5th); 18.5 (15th)
Penalty kill: 82.3 (10th); 77.9 (27th)
5-on-5 for 167 (1st); 140 (17th)
5-on-5 against: 154 (T-25th); 129 (T-7th)
Faceoff winning .pct: .502 (T-14th); .525 (3rd)
Fewest penalty minutes: 719 (7th); 545 (1st)
Leaders:
Goals: Stars – Jamie Benn 41, Tyler Seguin 33, Jason Spezza 33; Wild -- Zach Parise 25, Charlie Coyle 21, Nino Niederreiter 20.
Assists: Stars – Benn 48, John Klingberg 48, Seguin 40; Wild – Ryan Suter 43, Mikko Koivu 39, Mikael Granlund 31.
Points: Stars – Benn 89, Seguin 73, Spezza 63; Wild – Koivu 56, Parise 53, Suter 51.
Shots: Stars – Seguin 278, Benn 247; Wild – Parise 234, Suter 188.
Power-play goals: Stars – Benn 17, Spezza 9; Wild – Koivu 10, Parise 7.
Shorthanded goals: Cody Eakin 3; Wild – Erik Haula 2.
Penalty minutes: Stars – Antoine Roussel 123; Wild – Ryan Carter 48.
Hits: Stars – Benn 156, Roussel 123; Wild – Chris Porter 157, Coyle 131.
Blocked shots: Stars – Johnny Oduya 172, Alex Goligoski 159; Wild – Spurgeon 157, Suter 142.
Faceoff win .pct: Stars – Seguin .556, Spezza .548; Wild – Jarret Stoll .567, Koivu .561.
Ice time per game: Stars Kris Russell 24:01, Goligoski 23:50; Wild – Suter 28:35, Jared Spurgeon 22:40.
Goalies:
Stars: Antti Niemi 25-13-7, 2.67 goals-against average, .905 save percentage, 3 shutouts; Kari Lehtonen 25-10-2, 2.76 goals-against average, .906 save percentage, 2 shutouts.
Wild: Devan Dubnyk 32-26-6, 2.33 goals-against average, .918 save percentage, 5 shutouts; Darcy Kuemper 6-7-5, 2.43 goals-against average, .915 save percentage, 2 shutouts.
A look at the Wild vs. Dallas Stars series
The Wild and Stars clashed five times this season with the Stars mounting comebacks from one-, two- and three-goals down in their three games at Xcel Energy Center. The two teams have not met since Feb. 9 and the Wild's lone win came in Dallas on Jan. 9. That game completed the first half, the most successful in Wild history (52 points). The Wild then proceeded to go 1-11-2 in its next 14 games to cost Mike Yeo losing job.
Wild's all-time record vs. Stars: 23-27-11 (16-10-4 at Xcel Energy Center, 7-17-7 at American Airlines Center). Since 2003-04, the Wild's 4-15-6 (.280) record in Dallas is its worst in any road arena.
Wild's record this season vs. Stars: 1-1-3, Wild outscored by Stars 18-13.
Playoff appearances: Wild's 7th in 15 years (4 in a row, 0 championships); Stars' 31st in 48 seasons (includes when they were the North Stars, 1 championship).
Nov. 14 at Dallas -- Stars 3, Wild 2 (overtime): The Wild twice rallied from one-goal deficits and forced overtime on Marco Scandella's third-period goal, but Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin assisted on John Klingberg's 3-on-3 overtime goal to cap a 3-point night for the defenseman. Jason Zucker took the blame for the goal. Devan Dubnyk faced 36 shots, 18 from Benn, Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp.
Nov. 28 at Minnesota – Stars 4, Wild 3 (overtime): The Wild jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Thomas Vanek, Charlie Coyle and Jason Pominville, but the Stars stormed back with three third-period goals against Darcy Kuemper before Klingberg and Benn assisted on Seguin's overtime winner. Mikael Granlund's turnover led to the winner as Kuemper faced 44 shots. It was the Wild's sixth loss in seven games.
Dec. 21 at Minnesota – Stars 6, Wild 3: The Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jared Spurgeon and Coyle. But the Wild would give up the next four goals, including the tying and go-ahead goals by Vernon Fiddler and Seguin 59 seconds apart late in the second. The go-ahead goal came off a Spurgeon turnover on the day he signed a four-year, $20.75 million extension.
Jan. 9 at Dallas – Wild 2, Stars 1: Finally, the Wild held onto a lead and shut down the league's most prolific offense. Ryan Carter and Vanek scored second-period goals and Dubnyk made 34 saves, including 15 in the third period as the Wild was outshot 16-4.
Feb. 9 at Minnesota – Stars 4, Wild 3 (overtime): The Wild blew two one-goal leads, fell behind by a goal but got a Mikko Koivu tying goal early in the third period to force overtime. But for the third time, the Wild fell in overtime to the Stars on a Benn-to-Klingberg winner past Kuemper after Vanek overextended his shift, turned the puck over and finally went for a line change.
