Marcus Foligno says the quiet part out loud about huge Wild-Stars matchup

Nothing can officially be won or lost on Thursday night in Dallas, but there's serious ground to be made for the Minnesota Wild. A playoff series with the Stars is already locked in, but the question isn't who the Wild will play but where the matchup will mostly take place.

Home-ice is still up in the air thanks to Minnesota chasing down Dallas over the last week. It all started with a huge win in St. Paul back on March 21st, and while the Wild stumbled in a few spots and fumbled away some momentum, the team sits just two points back with four games left in the season.

Minnesota has already sent a pretty loud-and-clear message to the Stars about what to expect in the looming playoff series, but Marcus Foligno is saying the quiet part out loud.

That pretty much sums it all up right there, but it also hammers home just how important this game is to the Wild seperate from the fact that they can tie Dallas in the standings.

Even with a win Minnesota would still trail Dallas by way of a tiebreaker, but Thursday's game is more about a chance to rattles that Stars' cage a bit. Anyone thinking the Central Division race would be over by now has been sorely mistaken but even if the Wild don't wrestle home-ice advantage away they have a chance to once again remind the Stars that the first-round series won't be an easy out.

Minnesota has an obvious boost with Quinn Hughes, who is new to the playoff equation, but have guys like Vladimir Tarasenko hitting a hot streak at the right time. Tarasenko not only brings a 23 goal season and a three game point streak into the pivotal showdown, but offers the type of veteran presnce and experience that this Wild team needs to make a deep playoff run.

Lest we forget the goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, who give John Hynes a great problem to have in terms of determining which hand to ride. Don't sleep on the acquisitions of Nick Foligno or Mark McCarron at the trade deadline either, as both bring similar veteran experience as Tarasenko but also offer brute force to help bully the Stars -- and whoever may lie in their path -- around in ways the Wild haven't been able to do before.

Nobody is going to overplay their hand and show too much on Thursday, but the Wild don't need to do that in order to give the Stars a little love tap and a proverbial hip check to do exactly what Marcus Foligno teased.

If anything, we're going to get some playoff hockey a little early when the Wild and Stars meet in what amounts to the weigh-ins for the title fight in a few weeks.