Preview: Wild vs. Islanders

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- The Wild plays its final game before the 4Nations Face Off break, inviting the New York Islanders to do battle at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild is celebrating Black History Month at tonight's game, featuring a ticket pack including a hockey shirt featuring Black hockey legends, in-game elements, and intermission activities.

Info for Tonight's Game:

• When: Saturday, February 8th at 7:00 p.m. CT
• Where: Xcel Energy Center (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
• Tickets: Buy Now
• Additional Ticket Offers: Black History Celebration Ticket Pack
• Watch: Fan Duel Sports North
• Listen: KFAN 100.3 FM
• Gamecenter: Wild vs. Islanders

Wild Record: 32-19-4, 68 points, 3rd in Central Division

Islanders Record: 25-21-7, 57 points, 5th in Metropolitan Division

2023-24 Series Record: 2-0-0

All-Time Wild Record: 20-11-2 (11-4-2 at Xcel Energy Center)

Last Time Out

The Wild defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in Saint Paul on Thursday night. C Yakov Trenin scored the first goal of the game (and the first Wild goal in the month of February) early in the first period, assisted by C Marat Khusnutdinov and D Zach Bogosian. C Vinnie Hinostroza scored his first goal in a Wild sweater in the second period, assisted by D Jared Spurgeon and D Jonas Brodin. C Sebastian Aho scored Carolina's lone goal late in the third giving the Canes brief hope, but G Filip Gustavsson held off the storm for the final three minutes of play with stunning vigor. Gustavsson stopped 37-of-38 shots on goal in the win.

Last Season on Wild vs. Islanders

Minnesota swept the season series against the Islanders, winning the series-opening game, 4-2, at UBS Arena (11/7) and the second with a 5-0 shutout victory in St. Paul (1/15).

C Joel Eriksson Ek led Minnesota with four points (3-1=4). RW Mats Zuccarello tallied three points (1-2=3). LW Matt Boldy (0-2=2), D Brock Faber (0-2=2), LW Marcus Foligno (1-1=2) and LW Kirill Kaprizov (1-1=2) had two points each. G Marc-André Fleury went 2-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA, a .960 SV% and one shutout in two starts.

D Noah Dobson (1-0=1) and RW Oliver Wahlstrom (1-0=1) each scored for the Islanders. G Semyon Varlamov stopped 27-of-31 shots faced in the first meeting. G Ilya Sororkin started the second game, stopping 29-of-32 shots prior to being replaced by G Ken Appleby, who stopped 6-of-8 shots.

Wild Leaders Against Islanders

• LW Marcus Johansson leads Minnesota with 23 points (3- 20=23) in 40 career games against the Islanders
• Zuccarello owns 20 points (5-15=20) in 38 matches
• Eriksson Ek has 10 points (5-5=10) in 11 games
• Bogosian (4-4=8 in 27 games), Foligno (4-4=8 in 24 games) and Spurgeon (3-5=8 in 19 games) have scored eight points each

Islanders Leaders Against Wild

• C Bo Horvat leads the Islanders with 14 points (9- 5=14) in 23 career matches against Minnesota
• RW Kyle Palmieri owns 13 points (5-8=13) in 22 games
• LW Anders Lee has 12 points (6-6=12) in 18 contests
• D Tony DeAngelo has 11 points (2-9=11) in 11 matches

To view recent transactions, visit wild.com/transactions.

On the Mend

Kirill Kaprizov: lower-body injury (five game missed)

Jakub Lauko: lower-body injury (one game missed)

Connections

• Minnesota President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin tallied 80 points (39-41=80) and 128 PIM in 142 games with the Islanders in two seasons (2007-09)
• Spurgeon was drafted by New York in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Draft (156th overall)
• Minnesota Assistant Coach Jack Capuano served as Head Coach of the Islanders for parts of seven seasons (2010-17)
• Islanders Special Assignment Coach Jacques Lemaire was the first Head Coach in Wild history and posted a record of 293-255-108 in 656 games over eight seasons (2000-09) .He is Minnesota’s all-time leader in games coached and victories and was the recipient of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in 2003
• Lee hails from Edina and played high school hockey at Edina and St. Thomas Academy
• C Brock Nelson is from Warroad
• RW Hudson Fasching is from Apple Valley and played three seasons at the University of Minnesota (2013-16)
• D Scott Perunovich is from Hibbing and played three seasons (2017-20) at the University of Minnesota - Duluth

Fast Facts

• The Wild has won six consecutive games against the Islanders and is 9-2-1 in the last 12 meetings overall

For more information on today's matchup, check out the game notes below.