Wild Game Day number 73 Wild Record (41-24-7 89 pts) Home Record (24-6-6)
Opponent: Los Angeles Kings (39-27-6 84 pts) Road Record (20-13-3)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last season results: 10/18 Kings 3 @ Wild 6 1/7 Wild 3 @ Kings 4(OT) 2/27 Kings 4 @ Wild 5
Last result: 12/5 Wild 2 @Kings 5
The Wild return home following their successful two game road trip that saw them take both ends of the back to backs 4-2 in Vegas on Friday, and 3-1 in Arizona Saturday night. LA on the other hand was blanked by New Jersey at home Saturday night, but find themselves sitting in the second wildcard position thanks to the Stars loss yesterday in Winnipeg.
There are 10 games left for the Wild five home and five away. With the next three on home ice the Wild have a very good opportunity to solidify their own playoff position, but the competition will be tough. After the Kings the Wild host the NHL leading Nashville Predators on Saturday, and then right back at it Sunday against Boston, who by that time may be the Eastern Conference points leader.
Saturday was not pretty in Arizona, and Friday night did not exactly end with the Wild playing their best in Vegas. But two road wins is very solid for this team and finding ways to win at this time of the season is always a good sign.
By no means are the Wild out of the woods as far as securing a playoff berth goes, but they did put some distance between themselves and the pack with the consecutive wins. LA is one of the teams Minnesota wants to keep in their rearview mirror so winning tonight becomes that much more important, not to mention the next two opponents on tap for the Wild.
Marcus Foligno delivered his biggest Wild goal Saturday in Arizona, breaking the 1-1 tie with a brilliant spin around wrist shot with just over 9 minutes to play. The game was teetering for the Wild up until that point, as Arizona was proving once again to be a real pesky opponent, playing with house money.
Daniel Winnik returned to the Wild lineup, after being a healthy scratch in Vegas, and was the catalyst on that Foligno goal. Winnik is a guy that brings energy and speed every night. His shot is pretty deceiving as well. He is not the guy that should be in that healthy scratch rotation, as his value is felt in many areas of the Wild game.
Look for Nick Seeler to make his way back into the Wild lineup as Gustav Olofsson had a rough game in Arizona Saturday.
Projected lines:
Zucker-Staal-Granlund Parise-Koivu-Niederreiter Ennis-Eriksson Ek-Coyle Foligno-Cullen-Winnik
Suter-Dumba Brodin-Murphy Seeler-Prosser
Dubnyk
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