After the Stars' morning skate on Thursday, Tyler Seguin seemed like the last one to learn that he'd been officially ruled out for the Stars' Game 1 contest against the Wild.

"Is that the news?" Seguin asked.

Minutes earlier, while Seguin was still on the ice, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said his star forward just needed more time to get up to speed after an Achilles injury that has held him out since March 18.

The Stars showed few signs of missing him in their 4-0 win to take a 1-0 series lead.

"He's had really, in my eyes, one good practice," Ruff said. "He had a practice earlier in the week I mentioned, that I thought was OK. The next day I thought he was better and the fact that playoff intensity is even ramped up more than the regular season. I want him to step in and not play OK. I want him to step in and really be ready.

"If this was a Game 7 he'd probably play. You'd take that chance. You'd take a kick at it. But right now, we're not there. These guys have done a terrific job. We can give him the opportunity of two more days of practice and really ramping it up, which gives him three full days and I think that will make him an even more hungrier and effective player."

Ruff expects Seguin to play in Game 2.

Seguin is recovering from a cut to his Achilles that caused him to miss the team's final 10 games of the season. His first skate since the injury came on Monday, and he skated the next two successive days before taking part in Thursday's morning activities. Seguin said he felt ready to play.

Instead, he watched from the press box as Radek Faksa and Jason Spezza scored to push the Stars out to a 2-0 lead and stay in control from there.

"Unbelievable improvement since Monday," Seguin said. "I think a lot of it is with the conditioning, with doing certain things that help you gain confidence with the actual tendon, and like I said again today, I had probably my hardest skate I've had and it feels great."

Ruff likened Seguin's situation to Jason Demers'. The defenseman's shoulder injury in March was expected to take six weeks to heal. Demers returned in about four, missing just 13 games before returning for the Stars' regulars season finale against Nashville and struggled in his return.

"You don't have time to wait for someone to play well inside a series," Ruff said.

But the Stars' win did buy Seguin an extra two days.

"I've been working hard for the last month to get ready," Seguin said. "I'll be prepared whenever I get my call to play."

How the Stars have performed since Tyler Seguin's injury on March 17:

Twitter: @michaelflorek