Wild at Stars
The Minnesota Wild look to extend their point streak to eight games by completing a home-and-home sweep of the reeling Dallas Stars on Saturday at American Airlines Center. Minnesota, which owns a 4-0-3 mark in its last seven contests, has positioned itself well for a sixth straight postseason appearance while Dallas' playoff aspirations are fading fast in the midst of a 1-7-2 run.
"That was what fueled the fire, just wanting to bury these guys. Not let them think that they could potentially get back into this thing by getting a couple victories against us," said defenseman Matt Dumba, who recorded a career-best four-point performance (one goal, three assists) in Thursday's 5-2 victory. Zach Parise tallied twice to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, two assists) and has nine goals this month for the Wild. While Minnesota continues to record points, Dallas finds itself spiraling in the wrong direction with just four games remaining on its slate. "Yeah, it's frustrating. We're frustrated. We've got to find a way to stick with it," said Tyler Seguin, who had an assist on Thursday to increase his point total to 19 (seven goals, 12 assists) since March 1.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS North-Plus (Minnesota), FS Southwest-Plus (Dallas)
ABOUT THE WILD (43-24-10): Mikael Granlund scored a goal and set up two others on Thursday to boost his point total to six (two goals, four assists) in three meetings with Dallas this season. Fellow forward Jason Zucker has also tormented the Stars in 2017-18 with five points (three goals, two assists), including a goal and an assist on Thursday. The offense has been appreciated by Devan Dubnyk, who has yielded two goals or fewer in seven of his past 10 outings and owns a 21-6-5 mark since returning from a lower-body injury on Dec. 29.
ABOUT THE STARS (39-31-8): Captain Jamie Benn scored early in the first period on Thursday to boost his point total to 10 (six goals, four assists) in his last nine games. The 28-year-old has flourished at home with 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) and has an eight-game point streak (four goals, eight assists) versus Minnesota at American Airlines Center. Seguin set up Benn's tally to give him points in three straight games against the Wild and 10 (four goals, six assists) in his last seven in the series.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas D Stephen Johns sustained a concussion during Thursday's tilt and has been ruled out for the rematch by coach Ken Hitchcock.
2. The Wild converted twice on the power play on Thursday and are 3-for-8 with the man advantage versus the Stars this season.
3. Prior to Saturday's game, the Stars will honor franchise all-time leading scorer Mike Modano as part of the team's 25th anniversary in Dallas.