"He had to start at some point," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "We got two back-to-backs this week with a lot of travel. He's played well in this arena in the past, so we thought we'd give him this game instead of tomorrow's."
The start will mark the fourth time in Stalock's career he's faced the Predators and the fourth time he's played at Bridgestone Arena. Stalock has yet to win against Nashville, but has been outstanding here in his past two starts, each with the Wild.
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Last season, Stalock stopped 26 of 28 shots in a 3-0 loss. Two seasons ago, Stalock made his second career start in a Wild uniform here, making 33 saves on 35 shots in another 3-0 defeat. The Predators scored empty-net goals in both efforts.
"I give credit to our team. I know last year, we were 3-1-1 against this group and they're an ultra talented group. That speaks a lot about our group, the way we can play against these good clubs and hopefully we keep it going tonight," Stalock said. "It's a division game and you see how our division is going to play out all year so every point is valuable."
Stalock started three games in the preseason, posting a 2.03 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage. Included in that was a 16-save shutout against the Colorado Avalanche on Sept. 23.
"Training camp is a huge part of the season. I know guys, it's not their favorite part of the season, but it's huge to get feeling good, game-like situations, get bumped a little bit, see some traffic and obviously power-play situations," Stalock said. "You don't get that a ton in practice. So it's been good so far, practice has been good and up-tempo and I feel good about my game, but obviously the first test is tonight.
"I've been feeling good in practice and stayed healthy through training camp. I've done everything I can to prepare for this, so go in there, make some saves and come out with two points."
As a former University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog, Stalock is used to playing in hostile environments like the one at Bridgestone Arena, which might be as close to a college atmosphere as there is in the NHL.
