Wild to face Central Division-leading Stars and their strong special teams

The Wild have won seven of eight heading into the game at Xcel Energy Center.

December 28, 2022 at 11:11PM
Coming off a win against the Jets, the Wild have won seven of their past eight games as they prepare to face division leader Dallas on Thursday. (Fred Greenslade, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Dallas Stars at Wild

Thursday, 7 p.m., Xcel Energy Center

TV: BSN Radio: 100.3-FM

Stars update: Dallas leads the Central Division and is six points ahead of the third-place Wild. ... The Stars rank fourth in the league with a +27 goal differential, sixth in power-play percentage (.268) and fourth in penalty-kill percentage (.829). ... LW Jason Robertson (24-27-51) is fourth in the NHL in goals and third in points. ... G Jake Oettinger has a 2.43 goals-against average. ... RW Dennis Gurianov (undisclosed) is out.

Wild update: They have won seven in a row at home. ... W Marcus Foligno (lower body), W Brandon Duhaime (upper body) and C Mason Shaw (second of a two-game suspension) are out. ... The Wild are 6-2 vs. Central opponents. ... W Mats Zuccarello has 19 points in December, fourth best in the NHL. ... Marc-Andre Fleury (2.85 GAA) starts in goal. ... C Freddy Gaudreau has five goals in the past seven games. ... The Wild have the fewest giveaways (6.12 per game) in the league.

about the writer

about the writer

Chris Miller

Editor

Chris Miller supervises coverage of professional sports teams. He has been at the Star Tribune since 1999 and is a former sports editor of the Duluth News-Tribune and the Mesabi Daily News.

See More

More from Wild

card image

Alex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, an injury that pauses the Washington Capitals superstar captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record.

card image