Jake Oettinger gets the call in key divisional matchup vs. Wild

Stars (14-12-2, 30 points) vs. Wild (19-8-2, 40 points)

The Stars should be plenty motivated against the Minnesota Wild Monday night.
For one, the Wild sit 19-8-2, atop the Central Division, and 10 points ahead of the Stars in the standings.
Two, Dallas lost a 7-2 game at Minnesota on Nov. 18 the last time these two teams met.
"We do use it as motivation, we do for sure," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "That was one of our worst games of the year, so it's there and the players are well aware of it. They know how badly we looked and that we're a much better team. We take that and we build off how we played against Chicago."
Bowness said that as much as there are strategies and structure that'll play in, much will be determined by the players winning one-on-ones and 50-50 pucks.
"It's not so much your structure so much as the battles around the nets, both nets" he said. "They're coming hard and they're consistent in what they do."
While Tanner Kero and Joel Kiviranta are out with injuries, the Stars appear to have shaken the recent cold bug and are looking better.
"That cold knocked the heck out of us for 10 days, but now we're feeling better," Bowness said. "It went through the room and then it came back. There's no question it hurt us, but right now we're feeling better. There's more energy, I can see it."

What to watch

The top line of Roope Hintz centering Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson has scored 41 percent of the team's goals (32 of 75). That's great for the big trio, but it sure does leave some need in different areas.
Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin each have seven goals, while Denis Gurianov has four and Alexander Radulov has one.
"We met with Jamie's line today and showed them some good chances they had last game," Bowness said. "All you can do is reinforce the positive. They're getting those chances and you have to keep being positive with them. Those chances are there."
Defenseman John Klingberg scored his first goal of the season last game, and Bowness believes that can be a good sign. Asked what it means, Bowness chuckled and said, "hopefully a lot."
"He's had some great chances," Bowness said. "Roope couldn't score in the first 10 games, and we kept thinking it's going to go in, and (he scored) and we hope the same is true for John. He's got a great wrist shot and he's just got to keep shooting pucks."

Lineup update

Minnesota-native Jake Oettinger will get the start in net, while Minnesota native Riley Tufte will play on a wing.
Jacob Peterson is moving to center while Luke Glendening will jump to wing.
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Gurianov-Benn-Seguin
Raffl-Faksa-Glendening
Tufte-Peterson-Radulov
Suter-Klingberg
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Hakanpaa
Oettinger
Holtby

Numbers

40

Seguin has 40 points (15 goals, 25 assists) in 34 career games against Minnesota.

4

Kirill Kaprizov has four points (one goal, three assists) in his one game against the Dallas Stars.

29

The Stars own a 45-28-7 record all time against Minnesota, including a 29-8-4 mark on home ice.

He said it

"Tanner is doing OK. He's in the NHL concussion protocol, he's resting and feeling a lot better. We'll have him take as much time as he needs to come around. But he's going to be OK, and that's the best news." -- Bowness on Kero, who was injured in Saturday's game against Chicago
Great seats are still available for tonight's Stars game against Minnesota. Get your tickets now!
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.