The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. PAUL -- The Wild will try and salvage the final game of a brief two-game homestand on Thursday night when it hosts the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota is coming off a tough night Tuesday in a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks. The Wild never led in the game and never really got much in the way of momentum - save for about a five-minute stretch of the second period, when Joel Eriksson Ek tallied the only goal for the home team.
Fortunately for the Wild, tough games have been few and far between this season ... and when they have occurred, Minnesota has done a good job of bouncing back.
The loss on Tuesday marked just the second on home ice this season and ended a stretch of four wins in five games, including a 2-1 road trip west.
The game Thursday marks the first against its traditional Central Division rival since Feb. 7, 2020 - a game the Wild won 3-2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. While Minnesota shifted to the West Division during last year's truncated season, the Stars remained in the Central.
The trip north is Dallas' first since Jan. 18, 2020 - a 7-0 Wild victory at Xcel Energy Center. Ryan Suter had two assists for Minnesota in that game.
Of course, plenty has changed since that night.
Suter, for one, now plays for the Stars, and the game Thursday marks his first in Minnesota after nine years as a member of the Wild.
A native of Madison, Wis., Suter is among club leaders in almost every major category for defensemen, including games, points, goals, assists and plus/minus.
Suter comes to town playing some of his best hockey of the season. He scored his second goal of the year Tuesday night in helping Dallas to a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings, and now has two goals and three assists in his past five games overall.
That has coincided with Dallas' recent hot streak. After a brutal start to the year, the Stars are rolling of late, having won each of their past two games by the same 5-2 margin.
Dallas is 6-6-2 on the year, but the two victories against Philadelphia and Detroit were the Stars' first two regulation wins of the year.
Overall, six of the Stars' 14 games have gone to overtime or the shootout. Dallas has left with two points in four of those six contests.
Goaltender Jake Oettinger, a former Lakeville North Panther, earned his first start of the season on Tuesday and stopped 30 of 32 shots in the win. He could see his second straight start in his homestate on Thursday.
Dallas' five goals per game in each of its past two is a drastic improvement over its first 12 games. Even with those outbursts, the Stars rank 26th in the NHL in offense at 2.57 goals per game. That despite a power play that ranks as third-best in the league, as Dallas ranks 30th in 5-on-5 goals for.
