Wild Game Day number 10 Wild Record (6-2-1 13 pts) Home Record (4-0-0)
Opponent: Buffalo Sabres (3-3-2 8 pts) Road Record (2-1-2)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 1/12/16 Sabres 3 @ Wild 2 3/5/16 Wild 3 @ Sabres 2
Last Result: 10/27 Wild 4 @ Sabres 0
The Wild welcome the road warrior Sabres to town tonight as they wrap up their season series with Buffalo. Minnesota won in Buffalo 4-0 last Thursday backed by Devan Dubnyk's 38 save perfornance. The Sabres have won two straight following that meeting with the Wild, beating the Panthers at home Saturday 3-0, and the Jets 3-1 in Winnipeg on Sunday.
Buffalo is a much improved team even with all the injury woes they have encountered in the early going of the 2016-17 season. Jack Eichel and Evander Kane are both on the shelf long term. Number one net minder Robin Lehner returned to the Sabre crease after missing three games including last Thursday's tilt with the Wild. The Sabres will be playing their sixth road game in St. Paul tonight and despite the injury issues have a winning road record through the first five away from KeyBank Center (2-1-2).
Last week in Buffalo the Sabres outshot the Wild 30-9 over the final two periods of the Wild's 4-0 victory. That trend continued for Minnesota Saturday night at home as the Stars outshot the Wild 13-1 in the second period. Dubnyk has been carrying the team almost single handedly.
If the Wild don't clean that up tonight the result will not be good for Minnesota. Bruce Boudreau has some work to do with his squad to get them generating more scoring chances. The knock on the Wild for the last three or four years is their knack for trying to make the perfect play and over passing the puck. The strength of this team is their depth and team defense which creates turnovers, which leads to scoring opportunities of their own. When they decide to shoot first the offense will be very productive.
I know that last paragraph sounds like I am describing a team that is 2-6-1 rather than the team leading the Western Conference. The facts are the Wild are getting results even though they have not played their best. The schedule has been friendly to date and the Wild have delivered.
Zac Dalpe joins the injury list which already included Zach Parise, Erik Haula, and Marco Scandella. Dalpe had successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair a lateral meniscus tear, that will keep him out of the Wild lineup fir the next four to six weeks.
Jordan Schroeder has been recalled from Iowa and will take Dalpe's spot in the lineup. Christoph Bertschy and Tyler Graovac were recalled again and will also be in the Wild lineup tonight.
Injuries are starting to mount in Minnesota, testing that roster depth. The Wild have gotten goals from 18 different players through the first nine games which should bode well for them as the season wears on. Tonight is a sandwich game for the Wild as they host the Sabres between division contests with Dallas last Saturday and the Avalanche in Denver coming up this Saturday. Boudreau has to keep his team engaged and work through the rough second period trend of late.
Let's Go Crazy!
Let's GoWild!
Let's Play Hockey!