Wild seek to hold off Stars in Dallas
Hockey Betting Lines
02/04/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Wild are coming off one road victory over a team that is chasing them in the Western Conference standings. Minnesota hopes for similar results tonight, but to do that it will have to beat the Stars in Dallas for the first time in almost nine years.
The Wild had lost 11 straight on the road before winning their previous two trips to enemy ice, both at Colorado. They knocked off the Avs in their final game before the All-Star break, but were beaten at home by Nashville on Tuesday before picking up a 1-0 triumph in Denver on Thursday.
Niklas Backstrom came up with 37 saves, including 17 in the third period, for his third shutout of the season and 25th of his career. Greg Zanon netted Minnesota's only goal, his first in 23 games, to give the Wild their third victory in four games following a 2-11-4 slump.
"Those guys did a great job in front of me," said Backstrom. "They made smart plays in our zone and got the puck out a lot. That was the key for us tonight."
The Wild are 10 points behind the Canucks in the Northwest Division and their 57 points have them eighth overall in the West, three up on the Avalanche, Flames and tonight's opponent, the Stars.
Minnesota is 12-12-4 on the road this season and 0-10-4 in its past 14 trips to Dallas since its last win there on March 21, 2003. That includes a 4-0 setback in their last trip to Dallas on March 11 of last season.
The Wild have won two straight over the Stars overall following defeats in six straight and 11 of the previous 13 in the series.
The Stars will try to close the gap for the conference's eighth spot, but are coming off a disappointing 5-2 setback to the Sharks. Dallas had notched a four-goal victory in Anaheim the previous night, but fell to 0-8-1 in the back end of games on consecutive nights.
Steve Ott had a goal and an assist, Jamie Benn tallied and backup Richard Bachman ended with 32 saves in defeat, Dallas' sixth in eight games.
"I think there was a lot of frustrating things tonight," said Ott. "Obviously, we didn't get the result we wanted was the number one most frustrating thing. Collectively, a lot of little breakdowns."
Dallas will be without forward Brenden Morrow this evening after placing him on injured reserve Friday due to a nagging upper-body injury. The 33-year-old captain has eight goals and 14 assists in 43 games this season.
The Wild are likely to debut new center Erik Christensen after acquiring the veteran from the New York Rangers on Friday along with a conditional seventh- round pick in 2012 for Casey Wellman.
The 28-year-old Christensen logged just a goal and four assists in 20 games with the Rangers this year.
Prior to tonight's game, Dallas will honor former goaltender Ed Belfour for his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame back in November. Belfour went in along with Joe Nieuwendyk, who currently serves as the Stars' general manager. Belfour only spent five of his 18 NHL seasons with Dallas, but helped backstop the club to a Stanley Cup title in 1999.
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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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