Next stop on the California swing for the Wild is Los Angeles this afternoon to face the Kings. LA enters today's tilt having won four in a row and seven of their last 10. Firmly entrenched in the spoiler role the Kings will take aim at slowing down the surging Minnesota Wild.

The teams split the first two meetings of the season with each winning on home ice. They have not met since November 12th when the Kings beat the Wild 3-1.

The Wild once again begin the day a point out of playoff position after briefly jumping to the top wildcard spot on Thursday with their win over San Jose. Both Vancouver and Winnipeg both won last night and leaped over Minnesota into the final two playoff positions. The Wild have two games in hand on Winnipeg with one of those taking place this evening.

It is the same story tonight for the Wild take care of their own business on the ice against a non-playoff team and they will once again put themselves into position to control their own fate. A lot of Hockey still to play but if your going to get hot, this most certainly is the time to do that.

Thursday's Wild victory pushed their road record to the .500 mark for the first time all season. Having nine of the final 15 away from the friendly confines of the Xcel Energy Center, continuing that upward trend on the road is an absolute must beginning today in LA.

The Kings have tightened up their defense giving up just three goals over their recent four game win streak, which includes victories over the high octane offenses of Pittsburgh, Vegas, and Toronto.

Today the Wild will be tested and getting off to a fast start is critical. Los Angeles is playing with extreme confidence and quite honestly they are a loose club looking to inflict damage to their opponents playoff chances and positioning on a nightly basis.

Devan Dubnyk is expected to get the nod today in the Wild net. Fully expect to see a fired up Dubnyk as he looks to regain the form that has made him one of the winningest goalies in the NHL since his arrival in Minnesota back in January of 2015. If Dubs does not get the cage tonight he most certainly will be in tomorrow in Anaheim.

It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!

Big Day in Minnesota as the 2020 boys High School hockey champions in both A and AA will be crowned later today at the Xcel Energy Center.

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