For the Wild tonight is the back end of a home and home withe Calgary. The Flames however had to travel to Dallas to play the Stars in between Saturday's 3-0 Wild win in Calgary.
After Saturday's loss all signs pointed toward the Flames down and out with the playoff hopes fading. That is not the case as they went into Dallas and despite losing a two goal lead midway through the third period, came away with the 5-4 victory. It took some late game heroics as Tyler Toffoli scored with just over 6 seconds remaining in regulation.
That result helped the Wild tremendously as they have played their own way into both the Central Division and Western Conference races. Entering tonight's game the Wild trail those Stars by just three points with a game in hand. They are four points back of Vegas for top spot in the Western Conference.
Oscar Sundqvist will make his Wild debut tonight on a line with Freddy Gaudreau and Marcus Foligno taking the role that Jordan Greenway played. Sundqvist will bring more grit than Greenway showed which should make that line very difficult to play against.
Marcus Johansson played well in Calgary and his presence has had a positive impact on the Wild's second line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy.
John Klingberg was strong in his first game with his new team and should only get better as he gets acclimated to the players and system. His presence on the Wild powerplay is an immediate upgrade and the results should follow.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!