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Hockey Day MN: Wild Host Stars

January 18, 2020, 2:28 PM ET [3 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The homestand got off to a good start Thursday with the Wild's 3-2 victory over Tampa. The win was the Wild's fifth straight over the Lightning who have not won in the State of Hockey in 7 years.

Today is Hockey Day Minnesota with the festivities taking place this year in Minneapolis. 2020 Hockey Day has been expanded to a three day event that began Thursday with two Minnesota girls high school hockey games and Friday featured a State of Hockey women's all star game followed by an NHL alumni contest. Today features two high school boys games on the outdoor rink followed by Ohio St. vs The University of Minnesota NCAA women's game. The day wraps up with the Wild hosting Dallas at the Xcel Energy Center.

Alex Stalock is expected to be in the Wild net following his stellar performance on Thursday in the Wild win. Stalock came up big especially in the third period with the Wild protecting the one goal lead.

Bruce Boudreau made a few lineup adjustments with his lines moving Mikko Koivu down to the fourth line and elevating Victor Rask to the second line. Boudreau has his work cut out for him as he continues to manipulate the lineup to get the most out of this roster.

Avoiding the frustration of a solid win followed by the lackluster performances is the task tonight for Boudreau who would like to see his team develop some consistency. That has been absent now for the better part of the last month and this current seven game homestand could very easily be the deciding stretch for the 2019-20 Minnesota Wild.

Dallas has won 7 of their last 9 despite only scoring 24 goals over that stretch. That of course means that the Stars defense is the driving force which does not bode well for the Wild and their recent offensive woes.

Penalties are still an issue for the Wild as they continue to take far too many and worse very undisciplined infractions to boot. The PK is struggling and a point of serious concern given the sheer number of powerplay opportunities they are yielding to the opposition.

A big 2 points on the line for the Wild in a tough central division matchup where the Wild begin the day in last place. More alarming is the fact the Wild are just as close to last place in the Western Conference as they are to the final playoff position with the difference being 7 points both ways.

It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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