Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Dallas

The essentials

ST. PAUL -- The Wild will play its final contest before a much-needed break on Saturday when it hosts the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota enters the contest trailing Dallas by one point in the Central Division standings while also possessing one game in hand. A victory would give the Wild some momentum heading into the NHL-mandated holiday break, which will span four days.
The Wild will also aim to snap a three-game losing skid in the process, during which, Minnesota has scored just two goals total. After wins against Montreal and Florida last week yielded a total of 12 goals, the Wild's offensive momentum came to a halt in a 2-1 loss to Calgary last weekend and has continued in defeats at the hands of both San Jose and Pittsburgh.

"I told the guys, our fate is going to be playing against our division, because we've got an awful lot of games against them after Christmas," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "It's how we do against them that is going to depend on how we do in the end."
That stretch of games against the Central begins Saturday for the Wild, and continues after the break with games in Chicago and Winnipeg. Following a stretch of games against Eastern foes, including a four-game road trip, games against Winnipeg and Colorado will follow before the All-Star break.
While the Wild has struggled in its past 10 games, posting just a 3-7 record, only the Jets have really done much during that same stretch of games. Winnipeg has an 8-2 mark during that span, with no other Central team posting a mark better than one game over .500. That includes Dallas, which is just 5-5.
"It's a bad point and a good point in that a lot of the Central teams are losing right now," Boudreau said. "We haven't been able to take advantage of it, but the good news is, they haven't been able to pull away."

Dallas will be playing the front half of back-to-back contests on Saturday; the Stars will return home for a game against the New York Islanders on Sunday before embarking on a three-day respite.
Winners in just one of their past six contests overall, the Stars are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at American Airlines Center on Thursday.
Dallas is led offensively by Tyler Seguin's 32 points. Stars captain Jamie Benn has a team high 14 goals to go with 29 points while Alexander Radulov (27) is the only other player on the roster with more than 18 points.
Ben Bishop is expected to get the start in goal. He's 11-9-1 in 21 starts this season, posting a 2.38 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.

Green means goals

Jordan Greenway scored the first goal of the game Thursday at Pittsburgh and has tallied two goals in the last three games.
Five of his six goals this season have been the first goal of the game for the Wild. He leads Minnesota and ranks T-1st amongst NHL rookies in first goals scored in a game with three.
Since his recall from Iowa on Oct. 28, Greenway has tallied 10 points (6-4=10) in 24 games. His six goals in that span rank T-5th on the Wild and T-9th amongst League rookies.

Special special teams

The Wild has killed all 16 of its opponent's power-play opportunities over the last eight games.
Minnesota ranks second in the NHL with an 86.1 penalty kill percentage this season and T-2nd in fewest power-play goals against (14). The Wild has been shorthanded 98 times this season (T-4th fewest in NHL). Dallas has been shorthanded 107 times (T-16th fewest).
The Wild ranks ninth in the NHL with a 23.8 power play percentage this season and ranks 10th on the road at 25.0%.

Series notes

All-Time Wild Record:30-29-12 (20-10-4 at Xcel Energy Center, 10-19-8 at Dallas)
2018-19: Minnesota earned a 3-1 victory in its first season meeting against Dallas at American Airlines Center (10/19)…LW Zach Parise (1-1=2) and D Ryan Suter (1-1=2) each led the Wild with two points…D Matt Dumba also netted a goal…G Devan Dubnyk stopped 33-of-34 shots…C Jason Spezza scored the sole goal for the Stars with assists from D Miro Heiskanen and C Devin Shore…G Ben Bishop made 33 saves.
WILD LEADERS: C Mikko Koivu leads Minnesota with 34 points (13-21=34) in 45 contests against Dallas…Parise has 31 points (15-16=31) in 30 games…Suter has 23 points (5-18=23) in 52 games…RW Mikael Granlund owns 22 points (7-15=22) in 24 matches…C Eric Staal owns 20 points (12-8=20) in 24 contests…C Charlie Coyle has 14 points (3-11=14) in 25 games.
WILD GOALIES: Dubnyk is 8-8-2 with a 2.74 GAA, a .911 SV% and one shutout in 19 games (17 starts) vs. the Stars…G Alex Stalock is 4-3-0 with a 3.11 GAA and a .900 SV% in seven starts.
STARS LEADERS: LW Jamie Benn leads Dallas with 32 points (13-19=32) in 36 contests against Minnesota…C Tyler Seguin owns 29 points (10-19=29) in 25 games…D John Klingberg has 14 points (5-9=14) in 18 games…Spezza owns 15 points (5-10=15) in 26 contests.
STARS GOALIES: Bishop is 2-4-0 with a 1.97 GAA and a .930 SV% in seven games (six starts) vs. the Wild…G Anton Khudobin is 1-2-0 with a 3.03 GAA and a .883 SV% in three starts.

Did you know?

Minnesota is 12-4-4 in its last 20 games against Dallas… The Wild is 9-1-2 in the last 12 games against the Stars at Xcel Energy Center.