The Wild took care of business in front of the home crowd as they dominated the Canadiens in every aspect of the game. An 8-2 victory that had some extra curricular activity precipitated by the Canadiens late in the game as well.

There was some bad news on the Wild front as Cam Talbot, playing his first game since exiting the Winter Classic, tweaked his previous lower body injury and was unable to play the third period. Kaapo Kahkonen came in to wrap up the night and stopped 12 of 13 Montreal shots he faced. The lone marker that he allowed was to none other than recently waived Rem Pitlick.

Minnesota big guns Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Kevin Fiala all kept their personal nine game scoring streaks intact. Kaprizov has seven goals and 17 points over his last nine, Zuccarello with four goals and 16 points during his streak, while Fiala has seven goals and 11 points in the past nine.

Connor Dewar scored his first NHL goal and Jordie Benn potted his first in a Wild sweater. Both Benn and Dewar have stepped in for Jonas Brodin and Nick Bjugstad respectively and given the Wild everything they could have hoped for and more. Benn especially as he was signed late in the off-season purely as a depth insurance defenseman, and not expected to be relied upon as much as he has been.

Benn did not have a particularly strong preseason and was a healthy scratch through most of the first two months of the season, dressing only once in October. Since November 21st Benn has been a mainstay in the lineup with all of the injuries and COVID-19 outbreaks amongst the Wild defense corps. Benn has been up to the take and played a far bigger role than really anyone had foreseen when he was signed back in the Summer.

Back to a few days off and some practice time before heading out onto the road for the next four. That will open in The Big Apple on Friday as they will face the Rangers, who will be retiring the legendary Henrik Lunqvist's number 30 to the Madison Square Garden rafters, prior to puck drop.

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