Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Montreal

The essentials

The opponent

The Montreal Canadiens have won five of their past six games, with the only loss during that stretch coming in St. Paul seven days ago at Xcel Energy Center.
In that game, Minnesota scored three times in the first period and had leads of 4-1 and 5-2 before eventually winning 6-3. Since then, the Canadiens triumphed in Winnipeg and Chicago before scoring a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night back at home at the Bell Centre. The game Thursday is the second of a six-game homestand for the Canadiens.
Captain Max Pacioretty has been red hot during the Canadiens' winning stretch, scoring at least one point in all six games, including four goals and four assists in those games.
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren has started the past two games for Montreal in place of the injured Carey Price. Lindgren, a former St. Cloud State Husky, made 38 saves in Chicago on Sunday for his first NHL shutout.

Connections

• Lindgren hails from Lakeville and played three seasons at St. Cloud State University (2013-16)
• Canadiens forward Torrey Mitchell netted 17 points (5-12=17) in 103 games for Minnesota (2012-14).

Oh, Canada

The Wild and Canadiens face each other for the second time in a week, having met last Thursday for a 6-3 Wild victory in St. Paul. Minnesota has won six straight games against Montreal since Dec. 3, 2014 -- its longest active win streak against any NHL team -- outscoring the Canadiens, 25-9, in those contests.
In matchups between the two clubs, the Wild has won five straight games at Xcel Energy Center and two consecutive games at Bell Centre. All three of the win streaks are the longest against the Canadiens in Wild franchise history.