Gameday preview: Wild vs. Dallas

Preview: The Wild makes a quick jaunt to Dallas before a brief two-game homestand this week. The Wild scored three goals during a 1-2 homestand and has lost five of its past eight games, scoring two goals or fewer in seven of those games. The Wild, including a 4-0 home win Oct. 29, is 6-2-3 in its past 11 games against the Stars and is 3-1-1 in its past five regular-season games in Dallas after an 11-year stretch of 1-14-5 there. The Stars are 3-3-3 in their past nine.

Players to watch: Stars LW Jamie Benn leads Dallas with 10 goals and 24 points in 27 games against the Wild. C Tyler Seguin has 17 points in 16 games against the Wild. LW/RW Mikael Granlund has four goals and six points in his past nine games. LW Zach Parise has 11 goals and 26 points in 22 games against Dallas. C Mikko Koivu leads Minnesota with 27 points in 35 games against the Stars and scored an overtime winner there in Game 5 of last season's first-round playoff meeting.

Numbers: The Wild is 6-1-1 against current playoff teams, 3-6 against current nonplayoff teams. … The Wild is second in the West with a plus-12 goal differential. … The Wild leads the NHL with 1.88 goals against per game; the Stars are last in the West and 29th in the NHL with 3.37 goals against per game. … The Wild's road power play ranks 29th in the NHL (7.1 percent).

Injuries: Wild D Marco Scandella (ankle) and C Zac Dalpe (knee) are out. Stars RW Ales Hemsky (hip), RW Jiri Hudler (illness) and C Mattias Janmark (knee) are out.

MICHAEL RUSSO