To say today is a huge game is an understatement. For Dallas they look to avoid a 3-1 hole while the Wild aim to prove that this is a different team than the ones we have seen in playoffs past.

No Joel Eriksson Ek so either Oscar Sundqvist or Sam Steel slot back into the lineup. The game one lines of Freddy Gaudreau centering Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson, and Steel centering Marcus Foligno and Gustav Nyquist make the most sense here.

Gotta think that Filip Gustavsson gets the call once again on the Wild crease, but with Dean Evason, mum is the word until we see who leads the team out onto the ice.

The games within the game are heating up with neither side giving an inch. We have coaches bantering about penatlies and diving and fans from both sides targeting the oppostion players as villains.

It all comes down to this for the Wild, can they put that effort and game plan in action in back to back playoff games? For Dallas can they make the adjustments to get the Wild out of that structure and make them play a skating and more free wheeling game?

Clearly Filip Gustavsson has the Stars miffed. One can hope that they become victim of the occasional over pass in their attempt to be too precise. For the Wild they have had relative success against Jake Oettinger, so more of the same plan to keep that moving forward for the home team.

Gonna be a barn burner at the XCEL this afternoon!

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

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