Wild Game Day number 65 Wild Record (29-25-10 68 pts) Road Record (12-14-6)
Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs (21-31-10 52 pts) Home Record (9-11-8)
Site: Air Canada Center, Toronto, Ontario
Time: 6:30PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 1/2 Maple Leafs 1 @ Wild 3 3/23 Wild 2 @ Maple Leafs 1
Last Result: 12/3 Maple Leafs 0 @ Wild 1
The Wild head north of the border tonight to face a hungry young Leafs team. Don't let the record fool you, the Leafs will be ready so the Wild need to keep their foot on the gas. Toronto is coming off a very impressive road game in Washington last night where they ultimately fell to the Caps, but by the slimmest of margins 3-2.
The last time these two met back in early December in St. Paul, the Wild came away with the hard fought 1-0 victory. That outcome could have been very different had Mike Yeo not used his coaches challenge, which nullified a third period Maple Leafs goal, due to the play being ruled offside. Toronto and the Wild have played some very low scoring games the past two years with the Wild winning all three match-ups and a total of just 8 goals being scored.
Toronto is getting a look at their future as they recalled William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Nikita Shoshnikov, Zach Hyman and Ben Smith on Monday from the their AHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies. The kids have now played two games against two of the league's best Tampa and Washington. The results were two low scoring 1 goal defeats. With the kids on the ice and the goaltender pulled, they gave the Leafs the opportunity to tie the game in both games.
The Wild must be careful not to take the Leafs lightly as they enter a very key stretch of the schedule. The Wild play six of their next eight against non-playoff teams beginning tonight in Toronto. They need to take care of business against the league's lower level teams and it all starts tonight.
Jonas Brodin will return tonight and David Jones will make his Wild debut as well. Jason Zucker is still out of the lineup.
Mike Babcock's teams are always well prepared. Although the talent level is not what Babcock has grown accustomed to, his Maple Leafs will be ready and geared up for a battle in front of the home crowd at the ACC tonight. John Torchetti's boys need to bring their game tonight and get on the Leafs early and take the crowd out of the game. The longer they let the Leafs hang around the worse the outcome will be for Minnesota.
Let's Play Hockey!