Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Dallas

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
DALLAS -- For the final time before the Christmas break, the Wild will be back in action when it takes on the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise around the league, the Wild had two of its three scheduled home games postponed, including last Tuesday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes and Saturday's afternoon matchup with the Florida Panthers. It will also have its
next game delayed
as well after all team activities for the Detroit Red Wings were shutdown through Christmas.
Detroit was scheduled to come to St. Paul for a game on Thursday, but that is no longer the case. Minnesota's next scheduled game after Monday night's in Dallas doesn't come until Dec. 27 in Winnipeg. But following the NHL's decision Sunday to shutdown cross-border travel through the Christmas break, the future of that game could also be in question, pending an extension of that border shutdown. The Wild's next scheduled "home" game is the Winter Classic at Target Field against St. Louis on New Year's Day.
In the meantime, Minnesota will face Dallas for the second of four matchups this season and one that, as of Sunday evening, is one of the few featuring two NHL clubs with nobody on either side listed on the COVID-19 protocol list.

Despite playing just once in the past week - a 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday - Minnesota began the day Sunday atop both the Central Division and Western Conference standings.
The loss to the Sabres was the first time in the Dean Evason era that Minnesota has dropped three consecutive regular season games. The Wild lost to Los Angeles in Vegas last weekend to wrap up a four-game road trip.
Since getting forward Freddy Gaudreau back from the COVID-19 protocol for the final game of the trip in Las Vegas last Sunday, the Wild hasn't seen any additional players creep back onto the list.

The same can be said of the Stars, who have remained relatively healthy during the recent surge. Dallas hasn't had a single game postponed over the course of the season, although that will change Wednesday following the NHL's cross-border decision.
Dallas was slated to host the Winnipeg Jets Wednesday in the final game of a three-game homestand, before concluding its pre-Christmas schedule at the United Center on Thursday.
Instead, the Stars will be off until at leas Thursday following Monday's game.
In its most recent action, Dallas snapped a five-game losing skid with a 4-3 overtime win over the Blackhawks on Saturday night. That losing streak came on the heels of a seven-game winning stretch, which began two days after a 7-2 loss to the Wild at Xcel Energy Center last month.

Minnesota led 3-0 in that game before blowing the contest open with a four-goal third period. Eleven of Minnesota's 12 forwards posted at least a point in that game, paced by Kirill Kaprizov's four-point game. Mats Zuccarello and Victor Rask each had three-point nights, as did defenseman and former Star Alex Goligoski. Cam Talbot made 36 saves in the win.
Dallas got goals from Jacob Peterson and Jamie Benn. Anton Khudobin stopped 19 of 26 shots, but he's no longer with the team after he was placed on waivers earlier this month.
Without Khudobin and Ben Bishop, who announced his retirement earlier this month because of ongoing knee issues, the Stars have awarded the net to veteran Braden Holtby and youngster Jake Oettinger.
Oettinger, a Lakeville native, has been outstanding, posting a 6-2-0 record in eight starts, to go with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.