The Wild and Coyotes faceoff for the third straight time tonight in St. Paul. The Wild have taken thw first two in this 3-game set and have won three of the four games the clubs have played this season.
It is difficult to beat the same opponent twice in succession, let alone a third time, but that is exactly what the Wild will be trying to do tonight and in the process extend their win streak to five and home streak to seven. Arizona is not going to go without a fight as they can ill afford to fall further behind in the Honda/West race.
The eight point swing in the standings has seen the Wild push ever closer to the top spot while the Coyotes have fallen to 6th place and find themselves five points out of the final playoff position at the midpoint in the Arizona schedule.
The Wild have not hit the exact midpoint having played just 26 games but their sights are aimed much higher following their recent success (11-2-1 over their last 14 games). We have seen things like this before with the Wild where they get on these mini rolls and the talk starts about how they may becoming a contender.
It is still a bit early to utter those words with extreme confidence, however, there is a newness about this Wild team unlike the versions that we saw self destruct 8n recent years. There is an offense that is balanced and can score at 5 on 5 as we know, considering the powerplay is clicking at an historic low (8.4%) percentage,
There is bona fide legitimate offensive weapon, in Kirill Kaprizov to combine with Kevin Fiala, who established himself last season as a top line winger. Fiala has not matched his form from the second half of last season as of yet, and I expect that we will see more of that version of #22 as the season progresses.
Fiala jump started thevWild offense on Sunday with his no look cross ice pass to Nick Bonino for the breakaway goal that broke the 1-1 tie. Fiala himself, scored the insurance marker on a nifty give and go with Matt Dumba on the powerplay to give the Wild control of the game.
Kaapo Kahkonen will be back in goal for the Wild Looking to extend his personal win streak to nine straight. He is being pushed hard by Cam Talbot who won the last two while giving up just one goal in the process. Kahkonen has been nothing short of excellent in his first NHL season and no matter which goaltender is between the pipes the Wild skaters have extreme confidence that if they take care of their jobs, they will have a good chance to win each and every night.
Marcus Foligno will again miss tonight's game as will Marcus Johansson, Luke Johnson who filled in for Foligno Sunday, will again be in the Wild lineup tonight.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!