DALLAS – After more postponements amid rising COVID-19 cases around the NHL, there's only one game on the league's schedule for Monday and it's a clash between the Wild and Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
This is also the Wild's last game before the holiday break, as the team's Thursday contest vs. Detroit was scrapped on Sunday after the Red Wings were shut down.
"Our key is focus," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "There's a lot of different distractions going on, and all we have to do is focus on tonight's game. We can't worry about what's going to happen after that. So, our guys have done a good job. We've talked about it a lot, the adversity and dealing with different situations as we all have in this world now.
"Our guys will do a good job. Puck's dropped, we're expecting them to play the right way."
Winger Jordan Greenway didn't make the trip to Dallas and is out with a lower-body injury. Captain Jared Spurgeon (lower-body injury) is also unavailable and was moved to injured reserved.
The Wild recalled forward Mason Shaw from Iowa in the American Hockey League, but Shaw won't play against the Stars.
Instead, winger Rem Pitlick will return to action after sitting out four games as a healthy scratch and center Victor Rask will remain in the lineup after it initially looked like he'd be the extra forward if Greenway played.
"We lost three in a row now, and we want to get back [to] winning games," defenseman Jonas Brodin said. "Last game before Christmas break, it's always nice to win to get a little confidence from that. I think it's a huge game today."
