Wild vs. Stars NHL Playoff schedule: How and where to watch every first-round game

Playoff hockey is finally here, but the big quesiton in Minnesota is whether or not the Wild will finally manage to get over the first-round hump or if this season will be yet another early exit.

It’s not exactly going to be an easy path. Thanks to a horrible playoff format, the Wild will need to get through the Dallas Stars — the second-best team in the Western Conference — if the curse is going to end. The good news is that this Minnesota team is better than any of the ones we’ve seen embark on a playoff journey in recent memory, but that also makes how quickly they could be bounced out even more frustrating.

That journey starts on Saturday, and if the preview we got of it earlier in the month is any indication we’re going to be in for one of the best and most physical series of the entire playoffs.

Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars NHL Playoff schedule: How and where to watch every first round game

Here’s how things will stack up for the Wild-Stars series over the next few weeks. Ideally the series is wrapped up quickly by Minnesota but we all know that’s a pipe dream given how good both of these teams are.

In reality, those “if necessary” games are going to factor in one way or another.

Once again the Wild have drawn a pretty rough start time schedule, getting stuck with the late games in two of the first four possible matchups. In other years that’s understandable but this is potentially the best series on the entire playoff slate, so to saddle it with a start time that is after 9pm on the East Coast is a little ridiculous considering both teams are in the central time zone.

Adding some extra texture to the rivalry with Dallas is the history of the North Stars. It’s one that the Stars haven’t been shy about in the lead up to this series and it’s something that has fans in Minnesota even more on edge about how things might go down.

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