Minnesota Wild (46-25-11, third in the Central Division) vs. Dallas Stars (47-21-14, second in the Central Division)
Dallas; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK NHL LINE: Stars -152, Wild +128
NHL PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND: Stars host series opener
BOTTOM LINE: The Dallas Stars host the Minnesota Wild in game one of the Western Conference first round. The teams meet Sunday for the fifth time this season. The teams tied the regular season series 2-2. In their last regular season meeting on Dec. 4, the Wild won 6-5 in a shootout. Frederick Gaudreau led the Wild with two goals.
Dallas has gone 47-21-14 overall with an 18-4-4 record against the Central Division. The Stars have gone 39-7-6 when scoring at least three goals.
Minnesota has a 16-8-2 record in Central Division games and a 46-25-11 record overall. The Wild have a 34-7-7 record when scoring three or more goals.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jamie Benn has 33 goals and 45 assists for the Stars. Joe Pavelski has seven goals and three assists over the last 10 games.
Mats Zuccarello has 22 goals and 45 assists for the Wild. Gaudreau has six goals over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Stars: 8-2-0, averaging 3.4 goals, 6.6 assists, 2.7 penalties and 5.7 penalty minutes while giving up 1.5 goals per game.
Wild: 5-3-2, averaging three goals, 4.1 assists, 4.4 penalties and 11.6 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game.
INJURIES: Stars: None listed.
Wild: Mason Shaw: out for season (knee), Joel Eriksson Ek: day to day (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist: day to day (lower body), John Klingberg: day to day (lower body).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
