Morning Skate Wrap Up: Wild at Bruins

The Wild closes out its three-game road trip tonight with Stanley Cup Playoff clinching scenarios in play. Minnesota can clinch a playoff spot tonight if it wins at Boston (in any fashion) and both the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken earn one point or less tonight. It can also clinch a playoff spot if it earns one point tonight at Boston and both the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken earn zero points tonight. Minnesota (94 points) would be the third team to clinch a postseason spot, joining its Central Division rivals, Colorado (106 points) and Dallas (97 points).

The first meeting between these two teams back on December 14 was a memorable one for Wild fans as defenseman Quinn Hughes made his Minnesota debut, scoring a goal in 26:55 of TOI en route to a 6-2 win. Since Hughes’ debut, Minnesota’s 35 power-play goals ranks third in the NHL, while its 145 goals ranks T-5th and its 53 points (23-11-7) is T-7th. As for Hughes, since joining Minnesota, he ranks third in the NHL with 43 assists and T-10th with 47 points (4-43=47). He is four points shy of tying Ryan Suter (51, two times) for the most points in a single season by a defenseman.

In nine meetings between Boston and Minnesota dating back to January 6, 2022, the Wild owns a 6-2-1 record and has won for of the last five contests. Minnesota will look to sweep the season series for the first time since the 2023 season. The Wild has earned a point in four of its last five games played at TD Garden (2-1-2), and owns a 10-5-2 record in 17 games played in Boston.

Players to Watch:

Matt Boldy: The Massachusetts native returns home tonight, the place where he scored his first career NHL goal. In the December meeting, Boldy posted two points (1-1=2), moving his career total to five points (3-2=5) in nine career games against his hometown team.

Kirill Kaprizov: In only six career games against Boston, Kaprizov owns nine points (8-1=9), including a two-goal outing in the December meeting—that marked the third multi-goal game Kaprizov has recorded against Boston. Per Stats Perform, Kaprizov’s goal total ties the record for most goals by a player in his first six games versus Boston, a mark set by Bill Carson in the 1920s and equaled by Charlie Conacher, Rob Brown and Evgeni Malkin.