7 p.m. at Winnipeg • MTS Centre • FSN, 100.3-FM
Finally, a return to the road
Preview: The Wild's eight-game homestand, the longest ever for the franchise, came to an end, launching a stretch of seven of nine of the road. The Wild is 18-6-5 on the road, 14-1-1 in its past 16 road games, including a 4-2 win in its last road game Feb. 7 in Winnipeg. The Jets are coming off their bye and beginning a six-game homestand. Of the Jets' seven regulation losses against the Central Division, three have come against Minnesota.
Players to watch: LW Patrik Laine, benched against the Wild in the last meeting and scoreless with three shots in three games vs. Minnesota, was the first rookie in the NHL this season to score 30 goals. His 54 points are tied with Toronto's Auston Matthews for the rookie lead, but Laine leads rookies with 0.98 points per game. C Mark Scheifele has nine assists in his past five games and is seventh in the NHL with 62 points. He's joined by Boston's Brad Marchand and San Jose's Brent Burns as the only players with 25 or more goals and 37 or more assists. G Darcy Kuemper should start for the Wild. He is 2-0-1 in his past three games.
Numbers: The Wild is 4-3-2 in the second of back-to-backs this season.
Injuries: Wild LW Zach Parise (mumps) and RW Jason Pominville (mumps) are out. Jets D Tyler Myers (lower body), C Marko Dano (leg), G Ondrej Pavelec (lower body) and C Andrew Copp (upper body) are out. D Jacob Trouba is suspended and D Toby Enstrom (lower body) is expected back.
Michael Russo
