Preview: The Wild is coming off a 4-3 loss to Calgary and has six regulation victories in its past 39 games, two in its past 18. It has lost three consecutive home games and has lost two of three against Dallas - both in Dallas. The Wild beat the Stars 5-2 at home on Jan. 21. The Stars are surging - 9-0-1 in the past 10 games.
Players to watch: Over the past 30 days, no trio of linemates in the NHL has earned more points than the Loui Eriksson-Mike Ribeiro-Michael Ryder line (43 points). Ryder is on a career-high nine-game point streak (7-4-11). It's the longest active scoring streak in the NHL. Ribeiro has points in eight of his past 10 games vs. the Wild. Wild RW Devin Setoguchi has points in three consecutive games. LW Dany Heatley has 23 points in 22 games against the Stars. LW Darroll Powe is a minus-20, tied for third worst among NHL forwards. He has no goals, two assists and is minus-13 in the past 23 games.
Numbers: Thirty-four of the Wild's 69 games have been decided by one goal. The Wild is 18-6-10 in one-goal games, tied for the sixth-most victories in the NHL. ... The Wild has allowed two goals or fewer in 32 of 69 games.
Injuries: Wild LW Cal Clutterbuck (not feeling well) is questionable. C Mikko Koivu (shoulder), G Niklas Backstrom (groin), D Justin Falk (leg), D Mike Lundin (hernia), LW/RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) and LW Guillaume Latendresse (concussion) are out. Stars RW Radek Dvorak (lower body) is questionable and D Sheldon Souray (lower body) is doubtful.
MICHAEL RUSSO
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