The Minnesota Wild were simply no match for the Dallas Stars on Thursday. The Stars treated Minnesota like a ragdoll in Game 1, dominating on both ends of the ice on their way to drawing first blood in this series. Will the Wild bounce back? Or will the Stars get a 2-0 lead before the series shifts to Minnesota?You can also check out our Game 2 preview of Flyers vs. Caps.
Without Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek, the Wild’s offense was nowhere to be seen on Thursday, losing to Dallas in Game 1 of their series, 4-0.
Parise and Vanek, who combined for 43 goals back in the regular season, are currently nursing different injuries. Parise is listed out for Game 2 with a back injury, while Vanek’s lower-body ailment will continue to keep him out for the rest of the first round. Their continued absence will leave a big void on the Wild’s offense that averaged 2.6 goals for per game.
Minnesota has no reason to fold though, as it still has skilled forwards in Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, and Mikko Koivu. The trio mustered 58 goals in the regular season.
The Wild will also have to coax a much better performance from Devan Dubnyk, who was a hot mess in Game 1. Dubnyk surrendered three goals on 31 shots faced.
The under is 3-0 in Minnesota’s last three games overall.
Betting on the Dallas Stars
The Stars made sure that Minnesota saw…stars in the series opener. Even without the injured Tyler Seguin, Dallas was able to terrorize Minnesota’s hapless defense with 32 shots on goal.
Dallas so easily sliced through the Wild’s blueline with Jamie Benn leading the Stars, scoring a goal and recording two assists. Jason Spezza also made his presence felt by netting a goal and adding an assist. What’s more scarier is that Seguin has a good chance to play this Saturday. Seguin was second on the team in scoring back in the regular season with 33 to go with 40 assists. Adding him to the mix would mean added fire to Dallas’ powder keg offense that ranked first in scoring prior to the playoffs.
Seguin’s return must be music to the ears of Kari Lehtonen, who enjoyed tremendous goal support in the first game. Lehtonen stopped all of Minnesota’s 22 shots on goal, including 11 in the second period.
Dallas is 3-1 in its last four home games against Minnesota.
