3 Things to Watch: Stars at Wild, Game 3 of Western Conference 1st Round

(2C) Stars at (3C) Wild

Western Conference First Round, Game 3

Best-of-7 series tied 1-1

9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, truTV, TNT, SN360, TVAS

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jesper Wallstedt will get his first home start in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when he leads the Minnesota Wild onto the ice for Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round against the Dallas Stars at Grand Casino Arena on Wednesday.

Wallstedt started Games 1 and 2, and the 23-year-old rookie goalie showcased why Minnesota coach John Hynes turned to him instead of Filip Gustavsson to start the series.

He allowed four goals on 59 shots in the first two games at American Airlines Center; one on 28 in a 6-1 win Saturday, and three on 31 in a 4-2 loss Monday.

"He looks just really solid and confident the way that he's moving, the way that he's tracking pucks, his rebound control, his ability to make some big saves through his competitive nature and positioning," Hynes said. "He looks highly competitive but he's focused and he's just playing his game."

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger is looking to build on one of his strongest postseason performances in a while. He bounced back from a tough Game 1 (five goals on 28 shots) by making 28 saves in Game 2.

Before delivering the goods Monday, Oettinger had a 4.16 goals-against average and .847 save percentage in his previous six postseason starts dating to Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final last season.

Teams that win Game 3 when a best-of-7 series is tied go on to win the series 66.4 percent of the time (245-124).

Here are three things to watch in Game 3:

1. Special teams

The Wild won the special teams battle in Game 1, going 2-for-4 on the power play, both goals coming off Joel Eriksson Ek's stick, and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. They won the game.

The Stars won the special teams battle in Game 2, going 2-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. They won the game.

Mats Zuccarello, who had assists on each of Eriksson Ek's power-play goals, didn't play in Game 2 and is a game-time decision for Game 3 because of an upper-body injury.

2. Bumping Boldy and the 'Thrill'

The Stars are going to make a concerted effort to play the body on Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov whenever possible. They did it in Game 2 and Minnesota's star forwards didn't have the same type of room or speed as they did in Game 1 as a result.

Boldy still managed five shots on goal and 10 shot attempts, but Kaprizov was limited to two shots and five attempts.

Some of the contact will come after the whistle, a little chip here and a bump there, but expect the Stars to continue to try to be in the way of Boldy and Kaprizov as much as possible.

They're going to have to play through it.

"With 'Bolds' and Kirill, those guys are highly competitive skilled players, they are not going to get checked out of games, but that was a little bit more of what the series is going to be like on both sides," Hynes said. "But you take guys like that, they're anything but soft skill. They'll fight for ice. They'll find ways. They're competitive. They're hard on the puck. That's what makes those guys special."

3. Rantanen's stick discipline

Mikko Rantanen has already taken four minor penalties in the series; high-sticking and tripping in Game 1, and high-sticking and slashing in Game 2.

"(It's been frustrating) but you try and stay out of the box, and last game, got too high on Kaprizov, so I just have to try to keep the sticks low," Rantanen said.

It's not out of character for Rantanen, who led the Stars and was tied for sixth in the League among forwards with 29 minor penalties taken in 64 regular season games, including nine for slashing, four for tripping and cross-checking, and three for high-sticking, according to NHL Stats.

He plays a power forward game, so he is going to be susceptible to drawing and taking penalties, but the Stars need their big forward on the ice and taking a regular shift, not in the penalty box and putting too much stress on an already overworked penalty kill (6-for-8 in two games).

Rantanen needs to have better control of his stick in Game 3 to avoid more minor infractions that could lead to major issues for the visitors.

"You've got to get rid of some of that adrenaline, and some of that adrenaline comes out when either you're reaching because you're overtrying, or you're too amped up and you're taking a slash," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "So those are the ones you want to cut down. And, usually, they come down by themselves when guys get more accustomed to the energy that are in the games. But certainly, it's something we addressed."

Stars projected lineup

Justin Hryckowian -- Wyatt Johnston -- Mikko Rantanen

Jason Robertson -- Matt Duchene -- Mavrik Bourque

Sam Steel -- Arttu Hyry -- Jamie Benn

Oskar Back -- Radek Faksa -- Colin Blackwell

Esa Lindell -- Miro Heiskanen

Thomas Harley -- Nils Lundkvist

Lian Bichsel -- Tyler Myers

Jake Oettinger

Casey DeSmith

Scratched: Michael Bunting, Kyle Capobianco, Adam Erne, Ilya Lyubushkin, Alexander Petrovic

Injured: Nathan Bastian (hand), Roope Hintz (lower body), Tyler Seguin (ACL)

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy

Marcus Johansson -- Ryan Hartman -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Marcus Foligno -- Danila Yurov -- Bobby Brink

Nick Foligno -- Nico Sturm -- Michael McCarron

Quinn Hughes -- Brock Faber

Jonas Brodin -- Jared Spurgeon

Jake Middleton -- Zach Bogosian

Jesper Wallstedt

Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Daemon Hunt, Matt Kiersted, Jeff Petry, Nico Sturm, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Viking Gustafsson Nyberg, Hunter Haight, Ben Jones, Carson Lambos, David Spacek, Riley Mercer, Chase Wutzke

Injured: Mats Zuccarello (upper body), Yakov Trenin (upper body)

Status report

Hintz will remain unavailable for Game 3 after the timeline for his return was pushed back prior to the game on Monday. The forward has not skated since he was injured March 6. ... The Stars will use the same lineup from Game 2. ... Forwards Zuccarello and Trenin each will be a game-time decision after not taking part in the Wild's optional morning skate. If both are able to play, Brink and Sturm will come out of the lineup; if only one can play, Brink will play, and Sturm will be scratched.