Wild Game Day number 69 Wild Record (43-19-6 92 pts) Road Record (20-11-5)
Opponent: Carolina Hurricanes (28-27-12 68 pts) Home Record (19-10-4)
Site: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Time: 6:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 11/12 Wild 3 @ Hurricanes 2 (OT) 3/19 Hurricanes 2 @ Wild 3 (SO)
The Wild wrap up what has been a tough five game road trip in Carolina tonight taking on the Hurricanes. The Wild have won the last six meetings between the two teams, but prior to the current streak, they had only beaten Carolina four times in their first 14 meetings.
The Hurricanes are a young up and coming team that struggled quite a bit through the middle of the season, but have come on a bit lately.
There are no easy games in the NHL and especially on the road. Tonight the Wild need to get back on the winning track and the only way that will happen is for them to bring a full 60 minute effort of Wild hockey, where they use their speed and strong defensive zone coverage to create their chances.
The also need to get a strong performance from Devan Dubnyk in goal as he looks to get his game back on track after a couple of rocky outings.
Carolina is coming off a 3-2 OT loss to the Islanders after completely dominating those very same I slanders in an 8-4 victory on Monday night. The Hurricanes are 2-0-2 in their last four with the aforementioned win over the Islanders and a 4-3 win over the Rangers with a 3-2 OT loss to Toronto sandwiched in between.
Those four recent games show the Hurricanes can get their game up for the better teams and the Wild better be ready, or they could be the Canes next victim as they look to build on a strong late season push.
Led by Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner, the Hurricanes feature a very up tempo game and rookie Sebastien Aho is coming on strong with 20 goals and will be a great player in this league for a very long time to come. The Canes defense is young and skilled, but sometimes can get caught, but they are very active, of course led their by Justin Faulk and his cannon from the point, but Jaccob Slavin has really come on this season as their best defenseman with 5 goals and 28 points but the bigger stat that stands out with Slavin is his plus 16.
The game should be another fast paced entertaining contest, but one in which the Wild must take control of early and play their game to come out with the much needed two points to salvage the road trip just a bit before heading home to host the Rangers on Saturday night in St. Paul.
It's Always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!
Let's Play Hockey!
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