The Dallas Stars were on the verge of being Central Division champions leading by one point on the final day of the regular season. Instead, they watched the defending Stanley Cup winners, the Colorado Avalanche, rise from the dead and claim their second consecutive divisional crown. Now, the second-seeded Stars will face the Minnesota Wild, who finished this season in third place.
Realistically, on paper, this will be one of the best and closest matchups in the entire first round, with superstar snipers on each side trying to outmaneuver elite goaltending. These two teams split the season series 2-2 and kept it close regarding scoring, 14-10, in favor of the Stars.
Despite being separated by just five points in the standings, these two franchises couldn’t be more opposites since the Stars deploy the 7th-best offense and 3rd-best defense, while the Wild come into the series with the 22nd-ranked offense and 8th-best defense.
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Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild series notes
In March, the Wild lost their star player Kirill Kaprizov to a month-long injury, severely hurting his postseason availability. However, he returned on April 8, then scored a goal on April 11 to bring his season totals to 40 goals and 75 points in 67 games.
Incidentally, as the team celebrated Kaprizov’s return, they lost Joel Eriksson Ek to a lower-body injury that put him on the shelf for an undetermined period. Although Eriksson Ek possesses different skills than Kaprizov, he is a crucial player in their lineup.
Interestingly, the Swedish forward finished fourth in team scoring, with the second most power-play goals (12), while taking the most faceoffs, 1,386, to lead the Wild. Even though he has underwhelmed in previous playoff appearances, his presence will be sorely missed this year against a high-scoring team like the Stars.
Speaking of Dallas, they had a great season contending for the top record in the Western Conference while celebrating Jason Robertson’s 109-point campaign, the first player in team history to reach the century mark.
Even though some of their core players like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Joe Pavelski, and Ryan Suter are all in their 30s, the team has had an injection of youth led by Robertson (46 goals), Roope Hintz (37 goals), Miro Heiskanen (73 points), Wyatt Johnston (24 goals), and Jake Oettinger (37 wins) to keep the Stars as contenders, three years removed from appearing in the Stanley Cup Final.
Thanks to a solid mix of talent, the Stars finished the regular season with the fifth-best power-play unit (25.0%), with three players reaching double digits in goals on the man advantage. Even though the Wild killed 82.0% of their penalties (10th overall), this series will come down to which team’s stars can find the room to make plays and score goals.
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Key Stars & Wild matchups
Statistically, in an NHL without big names like Linus Ullmark, Igor Shesterkin, and Andrei Vasilevskiy, there’s a good chance that Oettinger would have a trophy case full of Vezina Trophies at home with superb regular season numbers like a .919 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.37 goals-against average (GAA), both ranking within the top ten in the league.
He’s been the backbone of the Stars’ recent success and was one save away from advancing the team to the second round in last year’s playoffs. Ultimately, he’ll be on the lookout to build upon his .954 SV% and 1.89 GAA performance in 2021-22 and show the world he can lead his team on a deep run.
Surprisingly, Filip Gustavsson is leading the Wild, having a resurgent year after coming over from the Ottawa Senators in a trade in the offseason. Even though the team acquired future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury to backstop them, his numbers fail to compare to his counterpart, who finished second in GAA (2.10) and SV% (.931), both career highs.
Historically, Fleury is the most tenured player in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year, making his 17th straight appearance as a player. However, it won’t matter who starts in the net since the Wild employ a lethal combination between the pipes, and these two may be the reason they advance to the second round.
Related: 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Ranking the top five goalies
History of Stars vs. Wild
According to statistics from Hockey-Reference.com, the Stars and Wild have played 87 regular season contests together, with the Wild holding the lead with a 49-28-1-9 record. Additionally, they lead on the scoreboard by a margin of 263-233, good enough for 3.03 goals per game and 2.68 goals against per game.
Historically, these two teams have met once in the postseason, during the first round of the 2015-16 playoffs, where the Stars eliminated the Wild in six games. Although the Wild fell behind 2-0 in the series, they alternated wins in the final four games, eventually falling to the Stars 5-4 in game 6.
Interestingly, the Stars haven’t won as often at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, with an 18-20-0-4 record in 42 visits. At the same time, the Wild have yet to fare any better at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, with a 12-23-1-7 record. Moreover, as the higher seed, the Stars earned home-ice advantage for the series, hosting Games 1 and 2, with the possibility of Game 5 and Game 7, if need be.
Stars v. Wild prediction: Stars in 6
