Gameday Preview: Texas Stars at Iowa Wild

Texas Stars 26-18-5-2, 59 pts, 0.578 #3 Pacific Division

at

Iowa Wild 25-15-7-3, 60 pts, 0.600 #2 Central Division

February 18th at 3:00 PM

Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA

The Stars continue their 3-in-3 weekend with a pair of matinee games in Des Moines. The clubs have only battled once so far this season, a 5-4 overtime victory for Texas on December 5th. Since that contest, Iowa has been strong. The Wild have achieved a 14-7-3-3 record since December 5th and come into today's game on a three-game winning streak. Texas is 12-9-5-1 in the same span.

(Credit: Texas Stars)

A big part of their play in the new year has been Niklas Svedberg. The former Bruins farmhand has won seven of his last eight contests coming into this weekend. The Wild and Svedberg will be well-rested coming into this weekend as they have not played since last Monday, a home game against San Antonio. Texas, of course, is coming in from Milwaukee yesterday. At least with the day game in Wisconsin, the Stars had a chance to sleep in a proper bed instead of on a bus.

The Stars had a fantastic game yesterday with Mike McKenna notching his 27th career AHL shutout. Texas needed every one of those saves as Sheldon Dries was the only player to break through for a 1-0 victory. Can Landon Bow follow that up today against an Iowa offense that is ranked 9th in the league at 3.20 goals per game. The Wild and Stars are actually in nearly the same spot in the goals against column with 3.04 and 3.12 goals against per game, respectively.

Stars injury/call up report:
Dickinson (call up)
McKenzie (injury)

Wild Web Resources:
Website: iowawild.com
Blog (Official): I Wild Blog
Twitter: @IAWild