Wild Game Day number 51 Wild Record (27-18-5 59 pts) Home Record (17-4-4)
Opponent: Vegas Golden Knights (34-12-4 72 pts) Road Record (15-9-2)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: NBC Sports (NBCSN)
Last Result: 11/30 Golden Knights 2 @ Wild 4
The State of Hockey is the center of the universe as of course that big game will be played here on Sunday. The hotels are packed and MSP is buzzing with people heading into the Twin Cities for the festivities.
And what better opponent for the Wild to host, than Vegas tonight to kick off the weekend. The Golden Knights are fresh off their historical 3-2 overtime victory in Winnipeg last night. The Golden Knights now hold the record for most wins by a first year NHL expansion team with 34, surpassing the mark set by both Florida and Anaheim back in the 1993-94 season.
Tonight will be the Golden Knights second visit to the Xcel, having lost 4-2 to the Wild back in late November. No longer do teams take Vegas lightly as the Western Conference leaders have earned their stripes and are a legitimate force to be reckoned with.
The Wild will need to bring the same kind of game plan that was successful in Columbus on Tuesday night, where they shot the puck from everywhere and drove hard to the net.
Nino Niederreiter will make his return tonight after missing the last eight games. Chris Stewart will be the odd man out up front while Mike Reilly makes his way back into the lineup in place of Gustav Olofsson who had played the last six games. Olofsson had been playing well, but Boudreau wants to get Reilly in the lineup so Olofsson is back to the pressbox for tonight at least.
Projected Wild Lines: Niederreiter Staal Ennis Zucker Koivu Granlund Parise Eriksson Ek Coyle Foligno Cullen Winnik
Suter Spurgeon Brodin Dumba Reilly Prosser
Stalock Dubnyk
Looks like Alex Stalock(not confirmed) gets the Wild net tonight and Dubnyk will be in tomorrow when the Wild travel to Dallas. Interesting call, with the Wild having not played since Tuesday and with their bye week completed just a week ahead of the All-Star break, there is no reason why Dubnyk should not get both starts as he is the clear #1 and needs to be on top of his game.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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