DALLAS ¡ª On Oct. 13 Vegas Golden Knights Hats Authentic , the Dallas Stars defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 at American Airlines Center.These former Pacific Division rivals square off again in Dallas on Thursday, and first-year Stars coach Jim Montgomery expects a similar game from the Ducks.¡°They haven¡¯t changed,¡± Montgomery said after practice Wednesday. ¡°They¡¯re winning games because of their goalie, their D core and they manage games well. They don¡¯t beat themselves.¡±Article continues below ...Anaheim (5-4-1, 11 points), who is concluding a quick two-game road trip, is 3-3-0 on the road after a 3-1 loss at Chicago on Tuesday with Rickard Rakell scoring the lone goal.One positive was the season debut of forward Nick Ritchie, who had been a contract holdout before signing Oct. 17. Ritchie, 22, is the younger brother of Dallas forward Brett Ritchie.¡°It wasn¡¯t a very good game,¡± Ritchie told Fox Sports West postgame in Chicago. ¡°We had a slow start, took a lot of penalties. It wasn¡¯t the effort we were looking for.¡±Dallas (4-4-0, 8 points), on the other hand, heads into this game off a win, 4-2 against the Ducks¡¯ crosstown rivals Custom Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys , the Los Angeles Kings, on Tuesday night.The Stars¡¯ victory arrested a three-game losing streak and saw Dallas play 11 forwards and seven defensemen, a look Montgomery said he could employ again.¡°Still an option, yeah,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°I liked it for the forwards, I don¡¯t know how good it was for a defenseman.¡±Besides the two-goal win, the rookie Stars coach saw several other big positives from Tuesday¡¯s win.¡°Our feeling is we won ugly and maybe (were) a little bit fortunate,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°Probably the second time all year where the other team had a lot more puck possession time than we did. Other than (Ben Bishop)¡¯s effort, the one real positive is we were physical. We were in the battle. We just got to get better at our execution.¡±Against the Kings, Dallas was again without forwards Valeri Nichushkin (soreness) and Alexander Radulov (lower body), and it appears neither Russian winger will skate against the Ducks.¡°(Radulov) we do not expect to play tomorrow (Thursday),¡± Montgomery said. ¡°We need to rest it for a couple days. We do expect him to be a player on Sunday.¡±But Nichushkin¡¯s status sounds more uncertain.¡°(Nichushkin) practiced with us today, so that¡¯s a positive sign. We think he¡¯s physically ready,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°Is he ready condition-wise to go in tomorrow night or does he need a couple days?¡±Montgomery would like to see his dynamic offensive duo of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, who have combined for one point, a Seguin assist on Tuesday John Moore Jersey Womens , over the past four games, get back on track.¡°The most important thing is we need (Seguin) and (Benn) to get back on the score sheet and we need them to start possessing pucks a lot more,¡± Montgomery said.The Stars look to win the final contest of a three-game homestand before hitting the road for a six-game Eastern Conference road trip starting Sunday at Detroit. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ¡ª A date with road-weary Vancouver came at the right time for the Minnesota Wild.Mikko Koivu had a goal and two assists, and the Wild rebounded from a recent hiccup by beating the Canucks 6-2 on Thursday night.Eric Staal and Matt Dumba had a goal and an assist, and Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker also scored for the Wild, who had a season high in goals. Ryan Suter had two assists, and Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves. Minnesota has won four of five and 11 of 14.Minnesota, which ended seven-game trip Sunday with five wins, was not sharp Tuesday in a 5-2 loss to Washington.¡°We want to be great at home. Obviously, the way the Caps beat us was definitely not fun. We made sure we came out strong and prove ourselves and go right back on track,¡± Niederreiter said.Minnesota is 6-1-2 at Xcel Energy Center this season. It is 22-3-8 on home ice since Dec. 27, 2017.¡°I didn¡¯t think we were at the top of our game, but I think they looked very tired like they were wanting to get home,¡± said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau.The Canucks were at the end of their second six-game trip of the season and started a netminder who hadn¡¯t played in the NHL in more than 19 months.Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund scored for Vancouver Chris Wagner Jersey Womens , which has lost three straight in regulation. The Canucks have played a league-high 14 road games, double their number of home contests.Koivu, who assisted on Minnesota¡¯s opening goal, scored one of the easiest goals of his 14-year career on the power play to make it 2-0 less than eight minutes into the game. Canucks goalie Richard Bachman passed from behind his net directly to Koivu feet from an empty net.¡°It happens sometimes, and mistakes are a part of the game,¡± said Koivu, who has 10 points, including two goals, in his last six games. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯d like to get that one back.¡±¡°I just fanned on it,¡± Bachman said. ¡°Most times I¡¯ll get those up, out and down the ice. ¡­ Maybe I was overthinking just a little because it had been awhile.¡±Bachman, who played last season and the start of this season with AHL Utica, was in goal for Vancouver for the first time since April 9, 2017. He made 23 saves.Jacob Markstrom started the nine previous games, Anders Nilsson remains out with a fractured finger and top prospect Thatcher Demko is out with post-concussion symptoms. Nilsson took some shots during morning skate but has not been medically cleared to play.With Vancouver¡¯s spotty defense, Bachman was forced to make sprawling saves Alex Galchenyuk Jersey Womens , and a couple other pucks trickled just wide, especially late in the first.¡°It was the players in front of him who let him down tonight,¡± said defenseman Michael Del Zotto.On the power play, Niederreiter redirected Koivu¡¯s pass 1:46 into the second for a 3-0 lead.Horvat got the Canucks within 3-1 with a power-play goal later in the period, but Staal scored on a wraparound 36 seconds later to restore the three-goal lead.Dumba¡¯s shot from the blue line beat a screened Bachman late in the period. It was his seventh goal of the season, one behind Toronto¡¯s Morgan Rielly for the league high by a defenseman.¡°I¡¯ve got a couple greasy ones and guys are just doing a good job of getting to the net kind of like tonight. From the parking lot, and it still found a way it,¡± he said.NOTES: Wild LW Zach Parise missed the game with an illness. C Matt Hendricks, who¡¯s missed 11 of 12 games with a lower-body injury, returned. ¡­ Minnesota is tied with Ottawa with a league-best 17 goals scored by defensemen. ¡­ Horvat leads the Canucks with 18 points, including 10 goals. ¡­ Vancouver rookie C Elias Pettersson, who has 10 goals and 17 assists, was held pointless for the fourth straight game.UP NEXTCanucks: Start two-game homestand Saturday against MontrealWild: Host Buffalo on Saturday