Stars at Wild preview
Johns set to play first NHL game in almost two years for Dallas; Minnesota has lost six of eight
by Jessi Pierce / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
STARS (27-16-4) at WILD (21-20-6)
9 pm. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-SW, NHL.TV
The Game
Stephen Johns will play his first NHL game in almost two years for the Dallas Stars when they visit the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.
The defenseman, who was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Thursday, has not played since March 29, 2018, also against the Wild, because of post-traumatic headaches.
Dallas has lost two of its past three games following a six-game winning streak.
Minnesota ended a three-game winless streak (0-3-1) with a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday but is 2-5-1 in its past eight games.
Players to watch
Stars defenseman Esa Lindell has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past eight games.
Wild forward Marcus Foligno has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his past six games.
They said it
"I'm really excited (to have Johns back). I'm very happy for him going back down and playing that well. He scored four points (one goal, three assists in two AHL games) and I heard he was really good. I met him here before the game (against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday) and it gives me a big smile for sure. He's a really good player and he's going to give this team a lot moving forward here if he can stay healthy. We're very excited to have him back." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg
"The confidence we have coming in to [Saturday's] game is big. It's against a big division rival. … We just have to make sure we're staying on this work ethic and game plan." -- Wild forward Marcus Foligno
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Joel Kiviranta
Mattias Janmark -- Roope Hintz -- Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry
Denis Gurianov -- Joe Pavelski -- Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell -- Roman Polak
Jamie Oleksiak -- John Klingberg
Andrej Sekera -- Stephen Johns
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Taylor Fedun, Justin Dowling
Injured: Radek Faksa (upper body), Miro Heiskanen (concussion protocol)
Wild projected lineup
Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello
Jason Zucker -- Victor Rask -- Kevin Fiala
Marcus Foligno -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin
Jordan Greenway -- Mikko Koivu -- Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy -- Greg Pateryn
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched: Ryan Donato
Injured: Nick Seeler, Brad Hunt
Status report
Faksa, a forward, was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 11 and is expected to return after the NHL All-Star Break. … Minnesota did not hold a morning skate.
Stat pack
Seguin has gone eight games without a goal and has five assists in that span. … Dallas is 5-0-1 in its past six games against Minnesota. … Koivu is two assists shy of 500 in the NHL. … Parise has three goals in his past two games.