Tonight the Wild franchise record 9-game homestand comes to an end when they host the Penguins. The home cooking has been great thus far leading to the current seven game win streak.
Pittsburgh always brings an added sense of interest from the Minnesota faithful. Of course Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin bring the star power and the return of Jason Zucker along with the local ties of Jake Guentzel. Throw in the Bill Guerin and his Penguins ties and now Marc-Andre Fleury with the Wild the connection is amped up that much more.
That said Cam Talbot is getting the start in the Wild net and on top of that former Penguin, Alex Goligoski will be sitting out for his third straight game.
The Wild need to forget the lackluster opponent they met on Tuesday when the Flyers put up almost no defense in the first two periods and the Wild slept walked through the third on their way to a fairly routine 4-1 victory.
Pittsburgh is battling for positions in the tight Metropolitan Division as they just fell to third as the Rangers leap frogged them by virtue of their 3-2 defeat in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
This is another good test for the Wild, facing the 90 point Penguins team thar is loading up for a playoff run of their own. It is also a key two points for the Wild who want nothing more than to hit the road on a high note. The upcoming road trip for the Wild is rather challenging to say the least and all the confidence they can bolster for the trip will go a long way