Stars set to face Wild with 'two big points on the line'

The Dallas Stars face a key game within the Central Division and Western Conference as they take on the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center tonight.
The Stars (17-14-3) come into tonight's game in 10th place in the West, two points out of the final playoff spot. The Wild (17-14-2) are in eleventh place, one point behind the Stars and with one fewer game played.
"It's hard not to (look at the standings)," said Stars captain Jamie Benn. "We know where we stand. We know where they stand. There are two big points on the line, so it should be a good battle out there tonight."

The Stars, who have lost five of their past six games, will be making some lineup changes coming into tonight's game. Martin Hanzal is out with a sore back and Jason Spezza will come back in tonight after missing the past two games due to illness.
"Going to try to put people in situations of success," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "I'd like to see how [Spezza] and Rads can play together along with Val (Nichushkin) to generate second line offense."
Denis Gurianov, who had a strong game Thursday against Chicago, is expected to slot on the top line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
Another lineup change is Brett Ritchie will play after being a scratch the past three games, and Tyler Pitlick will sit out as a scratch.

"Ritchie, we like his size and matchup against Minnesota's size," Montgomery said. "That's primarily the reason."
Ritchie is expected to play right wing on a line with Devin Shore at center and Radek Faksa on the left wing. Jason Dickinson will center Mattias Janmark and Blake Comeau.
"I like some of the third and fourth lines we've been able to put together, especially on the road for checking purposes," Montgomery said. "Just still haven't been able to build enough chemistry offensively for us to really love our lines."
There are no changes expected on defense. Julius Honka will be the healthy scratch on the blue line for a third straight game.
Ben Bishop will get the start tonight on the front end of the back-to-back with Anton Khudobin the expected starter when the Stars play the Islanders Sunday in Dallas.
"With a division game we want Bish to go against Minnesota," Montgomery said. "With the back-to-back, Khudobin has been great in all are back-to-backs when he has been asked to."
The Stars come into tonight's game with four straight losses on the road, and they are 2-7-1 in their last ten games away from home.

Opposition watch: Minnesota Wild

The Wild (17-15-2) are coming off a 2-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Thursday. It was the third straight loss for the Wild who have scored just two goals during the three-game slide. Since starting the season 14-7-2, the Wild are 3-8-0 in their last 11 games.
The Wild are without Matt Dumba, who leads all NHL defensemen with 12 goals. Dumba is scheduled to undergo surgery for an upper-body injury and will miss extended time.
Devan Dubnyk is expected to get the start in goal tonight for Minnesota.

Stat pack

Tonight's game

Who: Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild
Where: Xcel Energy Center
When:7 p.m.
TV:KTXA Ch. 21 (Dallas/Fort Worth market) and Fox Sports Southwest Plus (outside DFW)
Radio: The Ticket 1310-AM/96.7-FM

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Denis Gurianov
Valeri Nichushkin - Jason Spezza - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Blake Comeau
Radek Faksa - Devin Shore - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Taylor Fedun
Gavin Bayreuther - Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Julius Honka, Tyler Pitlick
Injured: Martin Hanzal (back), Connor Carrick (foot), Marc Methot (knee), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Nino Niederreiter
Jordan Greenway - Charlie Coyle - Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno - Eric Fehr - J.T. Brown
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Greg Pateryn
Nick Seeler - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Matt Hendriks, Joel Eriksson Ek
Injured:Matt Dumba (upper body)
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.