This evening on NBCSN, it’s the Dallas Stars hosting the Minnesota Wild starting at 8 p.m. ET. Following are some game notes, as compiled by the NHL on NBC research team:
• In 2000-01, when the Wild played their inaugural season, Minnesota got its first taste of NHL hockey since the North Stars relocated to Dallas as the Stars for the 1993-94 season. Tonight, the Wild and Stars will be meeting for the 50th time (DAL lead the series, 30-15-1-3). Stars defenseman Trevor Daley leads all active, healthy players in games played in the series, with 33.
• Entering New Year’s Day, Dallas (20-12-7, 47 points) was in fourth place in the Central Division, two points ahead of fifth-place Minnesota (20-17-5, 45). Since then, the surging Wild (7-2-0, 14 points in January) has 11 more points than the sinking Stars (1-8-1, three points).
• Stars center Tyler Seguin, the team’s leader with 21 goals, is on a nine-game goal drought, his longest of the last two regular seasons. Seguin went goalless in 10 straight from Feb. 2-28, 2012 when he was a member of the Boston Bruins.
• Wild defenseman Ryan Suter is averaging 29:34 ice time over his first 51 games, most in the NHL by a 1:36 margin over the No. 2 player in the category, Florida blueliner Brian Campbell. Suter’s ice-time pace is the highest since Chris Pronger averaged 30:14 per game for the 1999-2000 Blues.
• The Wild and Stars each ended long droughts without a hat trick, when Suter and Seguin scored three goals for their teams in games earlier this season. Since 2005-06, the Wild had gone the longest time between hat tricks in the NHL, in terms of games. (Elias Sports Bureau)
Player | Date | Previous hat trick | Date | # of games MIN: Suter | Jan. 4, 2014 | Guillaume Latendresse | Jan. 16, 2010 | 288 WPG: active | Anthony Stewart | Oct. 15, 2010 | 258 DAL: Seguin | Nov. 14, 2013 | Steve Ott | Mar. 31, 2010 | 235
• The Wild (9-12-3) and Maple Leafs (8-10-4) are the only two teams currently in playoff position with losing road records. However, the Wild have won three straight road games for the first time this season. Minnesota last won three road games in a row from Apr. 7-16, 2013, and last won more than three from Mar. 9-25, 2013, when their road win streak hit five.
• Stars winger Jamie Benn needs one goal to become the 21st player to score 100 or more goals for the Minnesota/Dallas franchise. Of the 20 previous players, 10 scored all of their goals while the franchise was in Minnesota, six scored all after the relocation to Dallas, and four scored goals in both.
• Wild defenseman Nate Prosser, who scored one goal in his first 96 NHL games, has scored the game-winning goal in each of his team’s last two games. 19 other players have scored the GWG in two consecutive games this season; no one has done it in three straight.
• Tonight, Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper will be making his fifth straight start dating back to Jan. 12. During that span, he has a 3-1-0 record, with a 1.48 GAA, .946 save percentage and one shutout. Only twice this season have the Wild ridden one goaltender for four or more entire games in a row. (Josh Harding, five games, Nov. 1-9, and four games, Nov. 29-Dec. 5)