Stars know they'll be in for a fight Sunday against the Wild

Stars (31-20-3, 65 points) vs. Wild (32-18-3, 67 points)

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- When the Stars took a 2-1 lead after two periods at Winnipeg on Friday, they said they knew they'd get a great push from the Jets.
Winnipeg trailed Dallas in the standings and needed the points, so the Jets showed a strong amount of desperation in trying to come back. They had a 16-8 advantage in third period shots on goal and eventually took a 3-2 lead before Dallas battled back and won 4-3 in overtime.
It was a great lesson for a Stars team that's been seeing plenty of fire from opponents who are close in the standings.
"You tell [the players], you better be ready because they're going to come hard," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We talked about it before the game, we talked about it after the second, `They're going to come, so let's be ready for it.'"
The Stars are going through an interesting stretch. They've played and defeated the Jets twice, beat the Kings, and lost to Nashville in a shootout. Those are key points against teams that are close in the standings. They finish out this road trip with games at Minnesota and Nashville - again opponents that should be highly motivated.
Minnesota is 2-7-0 in its past nine games and has allowed 43 goals in that span. Dallas will have to be ready for an intense effort.
"Every game is so tight," said defenseman Esa Lindell. "Everyone is getting closer, so we want to keep pushing it."

What to watch

It was an odd special teams night for the Stars Friday as they handed out six power-play opportunities to the Jets, allowing one goal against.
While the penalty killers performed well, Bowness said the toll of the extra minutes hurt the rotation of defensemen. Lindell played 7:13 shorthanded and Jani Hakanpää 7:02. With Miro Heiskanen out because of a non-covid illness, that put a lot of wear and tear on the defensemen.
"Penalty killing minutes are hard minutes," Bowness said. "They did a great job."
That said, the rotation of players meant the Stars were worn down in the third period.
"Five on five, we created enough, but we gave up too much," Bowness said of allowing 42 shots on goal. "I think what took us out of the flow obviously was the penalties. We were in control of the game and then penalty, penalty, penalty, and then all of a sudden your D are getting gassed and that took the flow away from the game."
Meanwhile, the power play went 0-for-3 and allowed four shorthanded shots on goal.
"Power play gave up too many chances," Bowness said. "We had some great looks with it, but we gave up three Grade-As against and they've got to stop that."

Lineup update

Tyler Seguin and Heiskanen missed Friday's game with non-COVID illness. Seguin skated Saturday and is expected to play. Heiskanen didn't skate and is questionable.
Here is a possible lineup:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Benn-Seguin-Gurianov
Raffl-Faksa-Glendening
Tufte-Peterson-Radulov
Suter-Klingberg
Lindell-Hakanpaa
Harley-Hanley
Oettinger
Holtby

Numbers

11-3-0

When tied after two periods this season, the Stars are 11-3-0. Minnesota is 7-2-0.

20

These two teams have combined for 20 goals in two games, with Minnesota taking a 7-2 win in November and Dallas taking a 7-4 win in December.

68

Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov has 68 points (26 goals, 42 assists) in 52 games. Seven of those points (two goals, five assists) have come in two games against the Stars.

He said it

"We have had a tough couple weeks. It's not a secret, but in the team, in the room, it doesn't feel like anything. So I'm confident we'll be fine Sunday." -- Wild forward Kevin Fiala
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.