Game Preview: Stars Look To Avenge Ugly Loss in Rematch with Minnesota Wild

Coming off their recent 4-2 overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Stars look to stay in the win column when they take on the Minnesota Wild at the American Airlines Center on Monday night.

The win over Chicago was an important one for a Stars team that had lost five straight games in regulation just prior and was struggling in just about every area of their overall game. Now, facing the division-leading Wild on home ice will serve as a big challenge and measurement on how this team is currently performing.

“We have to prepare our team, this is what to expect from the Minnesota Wild,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said this morning. “We know their strengths, we know they are a hard heavy forechecking team and they are gonna crash the net. It comes down to not so much your structure but it comes down to those battles around the nets.”

The last time the Stars matched up against Minnesota, Dallas was run out of the building in a disastrous 7-2 loss on the road. That loss served its purpose, however, as a huge wake up call for the Stars. Following that game, they won seven straight games in regulation, tying their franchise record.

This time around, they should be far more determined to win battles, defend well, and show up with the energy and will that was missing the last time these two teams met. For Dallas, that energy has been an issue all season long as they have shown up on multiple occasions in a daze that sometimes takes two periods to snap out of. One thing that should help them with their overall energy is the fact that the pesky bug that has been working its way through the dressing room seems to finally be dying down.

“That cold knocked the heck out of us for a week to ten days," Bowness said. "It went through the room and then it came back. But right now, we're feeling better. Theres more energy, I can see it. When the players are coming off the ice on their shifts, they are recovering quicker and I can see that. The worst of that is hopefully behind us. We said that before and it came back and bit us again a little bit but at this point, we are feeling pretty good.”

Jake Oettinger will get his second straight start after an impressive performance against Chicago bumped his overall record to 6-2-0 on the season. The 23-year-old goaltender has done nothing but impress in his young career and looks to continue taking steps toward becoming a full-time NHL starter.

Dallas has a confusing 5-5-0 record in their last ten games. They won seven straight but followed that up with a five-game losing streak. Consistency has been a major issue and continues to affect them on a game-to-game basis. While it is still somewhat early, at some point, it becomes too late to make improvements and a team becomes simply mediocre. While that point has not arrived yet, Dallas is certainly flirting with that line, hoping not to cross it.

Heading into the holiday break and 2022, a win tonight, against an elite team playing their best hockey, would be a huge step in the right direction to finding their game on a consistent basis.