Wild reveal starting goaltender and lineups for Game 1

The quest for the Stanley Cup officially begins tonight for the Minnesota Wild, who will be looking to advance past the first round of the postseason for the first time since 2015 when they took down the St. Louis Blues. 

They'll be taking on a familiar rival in the Dallas Stars, who happen to feature former Wild mainstay Ryan Suter on the blue line. The series will be getting underway deep in the heart of Texas tonight at American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. 

And not surprisingly, it will be goaltender Filip Gustavsson who will be getting his first taste of playoff hockey. He was the first goaltender off the ice in this morning's practice, the sure sign that he'll be getting the nod in net. Meanwhile, it will be veteran Marc-Andre Fleury serving as backup.

It sounds as though they'll be taking it game by game for who ultimately gets the start between the pipes, however. 

"I said it was an easy decision last year, because I thought — we thought — both goaltenders can play," head coach Dean Evason said. "It's the same situation. Both goaltenders have been absolutely fantastic for us this year. Fantastic. So the decision that we're going to make is a difficult decision, but it's an easy decision because they're both extremely great goaltenders that the team has confidence in.

"We've used them both all season. There is no reason why we will not continue to do that. We'll monitor game by game, as we always have."

Gustavsson enjoyed a strong season in his first full year with the Wild since being traded for Cam Talbot this offseason, racking up a 22-9-7 record with a 2.10 goals against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts.

Meanwhile, here are tonight's projected line combinations: 

Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello 

Johansson-Gaudreau-Boldy

Foligno-Steel-Nyquist

Duhaime-Dewar-Reaves

Middleton-Spurgeon

Brodin-Dumba

Merrill-Faber