The Wild return to the XCEL Energy Center following their 2-1-0 three game road trip. Tonight's opponent the Sharks are in the middle of a five game road trip and have dropped the first two in fairly convincing fashion, 4-1 in Winnipeg and 6-2 in Colorado.
This Sharks team is not the same pushover that the Wild handled with relative ease last season. They are a more disciplined club with some solid young talent to complement the veteran corps that is led by Logan Couture, Timo Meier, and Tomas Hertl up front and of course the dynamic duo on defense of Brent Burns and the return to form of Erik Karlsson.
The Wild on the other hand have been very balanced with their attack but would like to see Kaprizov and Fiala get the offense going as they have some very tough matchups following tonight's tilt. Dallas on Thursday then a trip to South Florida to face the Panthers and Lightning, so some confidence at the top of the Wild lineup would be great to see.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!