By Thomas Williams -
The games really matter now. After 82 grueling matches and a season where the Minnesota Wild had to deal with injured stars, scoring slumps, and the highs and lows of high expectations, the first round of the playoffs have arrived. Now, they have to face a team that is going to be a substantial test in the Dallas Stars.
It is star vs. star with Kirill Kaprizov going up against Jason Robertson in this series, as well as two teams reliant on a defense-first mentality, and have had outstanding goaltending. This is less of a playoff round and more of two rams just headbutting each other on a cliff face.
The Wild might have the upper hand with the blue line depth, but the amount of talent stretched through the 12 Stars forwards might prove to not only push them to a series win here, but all the way if everything goes right.
But, it's one game at a time and it all starts with Monday's puck drop.
Projected Wild lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy
Gustav Nyquist -- Sam Steel -- Marcus Foligno
Brandon Duhaime -- Connor Dewar -- Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill -- Brock Faber
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Projected Stars lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment -- Max Domi -- Tyler Seguin
Radek Faksa -- Luke Glendening -- Ty Dellandrea
Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell -- Jani Hakanpaa
Thomas Harley -- Colin Miller
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
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