2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Stars vs. Wild 1st-round preview

The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Monday.
Today, NHL.com previews the Western Conference First Round between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.

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(2C) Dallas Stars vs. (3C) Minnesota Wild

Stars: 47-21-14, 108 points
Wild: 46-25-11, 103 points
Season series: DAL 2-0-2; MIN 2-2-0
Game 1: Monday at Dallas (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2, SN360, TVAS2)
The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild will meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time when they play in the Western Conference First Round.
The Stars defeated the Wild in six games in the first round in 2016.
Dallas has qualified for the playoffs two straight seasons. The Stars lost to the Calgary Flames in seven games in the first round last season. They advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
"It's exciting, having this depth, knowing when you have a special group," Stars center Tyler Seguin said. "We feel that in here. It was a great season. We hit a lot of goals that we set early in training camp and through and through, [we're] a depth organization right now and team and a group of guys that care about each other a ton. That's a great mix going into the playoffs."
This is the fourth straight playoff appearance for the Wild, who are looking to advance to the second round for the first time since 2015, when they were swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in four games.
"[You] look forward to the challenge, look forward to the battle," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "We like where we're at, we like our group, the makeup of our team, how we play the game. You play all these games to play playoff hockey, and we know how to play playoff hockey. We're looking forward to dropping the puck in that first game."

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Game breakers

Stars: It was another great season for forward Jason Robertson, who led Dallas in scoring and set NHL career highs in goals (46), assists (63) and points (109). The 23-year-old also led the Stars with 41 power-play points (13 goals, 28 assists) and tied for the team lead (with forwards Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn) with 13 power-play goals. This is the second full season Robertson has been on the top line with Pavelski and Roope Hintz, and it has worked well for all involved, especially Robertson.
Wild: Kirill Kaprizov missed a month because of a lower-body injury, returning to play two games in the final week of the regular season, and still was Minnesota's leading scorer. The forward's numbers were down from last season, when he had an NHL career-high 108 points (47 goals, 61 assists) in 81 games, but he was nevertheless as effective as ever with 75 points (40 goals, 35 assists) in 67 games. Kaprizov, who will turn 26 on April 26, always poses a threat to opponents, especially at crucial times of the game. He scored six game-winning goals this season, tied with forward Ryan Hartman for the Wild lead.

Goaltending

Stars: Jake Oettinger carried the bulk of the load this season and will have the net in the playoffs. The 24-year-old was 37-11-11 with a 2.37 goals-against average and .919 save percentage in 62 games (61 starts). He had five shutouts, tied for second in the NHL with Alexandar Georgiev of the Colorado Avalanche and Darcy Kuemper of the Washington Capitals.
Wild: Marc-Andre Fleury was 24-16-4 with a 2.85 GAA, .908 save percentage and two shutouts in 46 games (45 starts) this season, and Filip Gustavsson was 22-9-7 with a 2.10 GAA, .931 save percentage and three shutouts. Evason credited Fleury for being a good mentor for Gustavsson, who has excelled in his first season with Minnesota after being acquired from the Ottawa Senators in a trade for goalie Cam Talbot on July 12. A good 1-2 punch here.

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Numbers to know

Stars: Dallas allowed 2.62 goals per game this season, best in the Western Conference and third in the NHL behind the Boston Bruins (2.12) and Carolina Hurricanes (2.56).
Wild: Fleury has a playoff win against 18 teams, second-most in NHL history behind Patrick Roy (20). He is looking for his first postseason win against the Stars.

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X-factors

Stars: Wyatt Johnston has looked like he belongs during his rookie season with Dallas. The 19-year-old center finished with 41 points (24 goals, 17 assists), including three game-winning goals. He has formed great chemistry on a line with captain Benn, who had 78 points (33 goals, 45 assists), his most since he had 79 points in 2017-18.
Wild: Matt Boldy came through with a strong second NHL season. The 22-year-old forward had 63 points (31 goals, 32 assists), third on Minnesota behind Kaprizov and forward Mats Zuccarello (67 points; 22 goals, 45 assists). Boldy was one of those who notably stepped up when Kaprizov was out and had two hat tricks in a five-game span from March 19-27.

They said it

"You want to play in the NHL, but you want to win the Stanley Cup. That's in your dreams, winning the Stanley Cup. That's what I've dreamt about many, many times. It's really exciting how good of a team we have here, going into the playoffs in my first year and having a great opportunity to win it." -- Stars center Wyatt Johnston
"It's been a long season. Felt short at times, long at times, but now 82 games is over and we're in the playoffs. That's what we were aiming for. Now the hard work begins." -- Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson

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Will win if ...

Stars: They continue to get offense. This has been an issue for Dallas in recent postseasons; the goaltending is there to save the day but the offensive support isn't. The Stars were more productive under coach Peter DeBoer this season, and if they can bring that into the playoffs, they'll be in good shape.
Wild: They keep the balanced attack going. Minnesota was 7-2-3 with Kaprizov out, getting contributions from their top forwards, including Boldy, Zuccarello and Hartman. They need to keep that going now that Kaprizov is back and healthy.

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How they look

Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Mason Marchment -- Max Domi -- Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov
Joel Kiviranta -- Radek Faksa -- Ty Dellandrea
Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell --
Jani Hakanpaa
Thomas Harley -- Colin Miller
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Joel Hanley, Nils Lundkvist, Fredrik Olofsson
Injured: None
Wild projected lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy
Gustav Nyquist -- Sam Steel -- Marcus Foligno
Brandon Duhaime -- Connor Dewar -- Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill -- John Klingberg
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: None
Injured: Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist (lower body)