3 Keys: Wild at Stars, Game 5 of Western 1st Round

(3C) Wild at (2C) Stars
Western Conference First Round, Game 5
Best-of-7 series tied 2-2
8 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS2, BSSW, BSNX, BSWIX

DALLAS --The tussle continues when the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars try to grab the lead in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.
The Stars defeated the Wild 3-2 in Game 4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday to even the best-of-7 series.
"This is the rubber hits the road, so to speak," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said Monday. "I mean, this is where the series is going to be decided, right? It's two out of three. You've got to raise your level and you've got to go in with the mindset that you want to throw your three best games of the season out on the ice. If you do that, like we feel we can win."
RELATED: [Complete Stars vs. Wild series coverage]
The Wild took Game 1 in Dallas, 3-2 in overtime, and are confident in their road game heading into Game 5.
"I know our game translates at home or away," coach Dean Evason said. "Everybody's looking for consistency, but when we play the right way, it's a good road game and it's a good home game. We don't change too much, so we're looking forward to putting that consistent game out there tonight."
The Wild are 2-3 (.400) and 2-1 (.667) when starting on the road and tied 2-2 in a best-of-7 series. The Stars are 14-12 (.538) and 9-3 (.750) when starting at home and tied 2-2.
Here are 3 keys for Game 5:

1. Seguin sizzling

Stars forward Tyler Seguin has scored three goals, all on the power play, through four games. If he scores another, he'll be the first player in Dallas/Minnesota North Stars history to have four in a single NHL postseason series.
Seguin has replaced injured forward Joe Pavelski on the top line and first power-play unit.
"I think he's done a great job," Stars forward Mason Marchment said. "You can see when one of our big boys (Pavelski) comes out of the lineup, [Seguin] jumps right in there and doesn't miss a beat. He's scored a couple of big goals for us this series and we're going to be looking for him to do more of the same."

2. Getting to Oettinger

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger made 32 saves in Game 4. The Wild had some great opportunities against him but know they'll have to do more.
"We turned the puck over five times, I think we charted this morning, in the first five or six minutes. We can't do that obviously," Evason said. "After that we really settled in and got to our game. We had our looks. We had some really good offensive zone time but yeah, we've got to find a way to get some more pucks in that core area."

3. Zuccarello thriving

Minnesota forward Mats Zuccarello has at least one point in each game of the series (two goals, three assists). Only two players in Wild history have had a streak of at least that length: Zach Parise (six games in 2014) and
Mikko Koivu
(four in 2008).
The Wild have appreciated Zuccarello's dependability.
"Not only offensively but defensively," captain Jared Spurgeon said. "He's such a big part of us as defensemen being able to stand up and have good gaps. He's always backchecking and making good plays there as well. Just the vision he has on the ice, the plays that he makes. A lot of times you don't think he sees the guy that's open, but I think he's just trying to bring some more guys to him, and he makes those plays. He's been huge for us."

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno -- Sam Steel -- Gustav Nyquist
Brandon Duhaime -- Connor Dewar -- Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
John Klingberg -- Brock Faber
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:Jon Merrill, Alex Goligoski, Calen Addison, Oskar Sundqvist
Injured:Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body)

Stars projected lineup

Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment -- Max Domi -- Ty Dellandrea
Joel Kiviranta -- Radek Faksa -- Luke Glendening
Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell --
Jani Hakanpaa
Thomas Harley -- Joel Hanley
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched:Nils Lundkvist, Colin Miller, Fredrik Olofsson, Riley Tufte
Injured:Joe Pavelski (concussion)

Status report

The Wild held an optional morning skate. ... Pavelski practiced for the first time since the forward was injured in a collision with Dumba in Game 1. DeBoer said it was a "great step" and he's getting closer to a return.
NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report