Stars at Wild preview

The Wild have won two straight and are 5-0-3 in their past eight games after going 2-4-1 in their previous seven. 

Wild captain Mikko Koivu, who is one point shy of 700 in the League, will play in his 1,000th NHL game. 

Dallas has lost two in a row following a seven-game winning streak. The Stars are 14-3-1 in their past 18 games after a 1-7-1 start. 

Players to watch

Stars forward Tyler Seguin, playing in 700th NHL game, has four straight multipoint games (five goals, four assists) against the Wild and has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in his past 14 games against them. 

Wild forward Zach Parise has scored three times in a three-game goal and point streak and has seven goals in his past eight games. 

They said it

"These day games, for whatever reason, especially when you've played at home and are going on the road, we still haven't found the right formula for our guys to start games the way we'd like to." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

"We win three or four more in a row, then I'll go, 'Oh, man. We're getting closer.' So, if we just play the right way, and do the right things, then the points automatically come up and we don't have to be begging and looking. They'll just be there." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Justin Dowling -- Tyler Seguin

Alexander Radulov -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski

Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau

Denis Gurianov -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry

Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg

Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera -- Roman Polak

Ben Bishop

Anton Khudobin

Scratched: Mattias Janmark, Taylor Fedun

Injured: Stephen Johns (post traumatic headaches)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello

Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Kevin Fiala

Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin

Marcus Foligno -- Victor Rask -- Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba

Carson Soucy -- Brad Hunt

Alex Stalock

Kaapo Kahkonen

Scratched: Ryan Donato, Devan Dubnyk, Nick Seeler

Injured: Greg Pateryn (core muscle)

Status report

Johns has been cleared to rejoin the team in practice and will slowly reacclimate to the NHL according to Montgomery. Johns has not played since March 29, 2018. …Foligno is expected to return after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury. 

Stat pack

Bishop is 6-1-0 with a 1.90 goals against average and .941 save percentage in his past 8 eight starts (pulled once) …The Stars have won five-straight games against the Wild and have collected points in six of the last seven games against them (6-1-0). …Spurgeon has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games. …Hartman has three points (one goal, two assists) in a three-game point streak. …Suter, playing in his 1,100th NHL game, has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past six games.