Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Vancouver

The essentials

ST. PAUL -- The Wild will try and get back on track on Thursday when it faces the Vancouver Canucks at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota returned home from a seven-game road trip on Tuesday and lost 5-2 to the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. The Wild got back to work on Wednesday, hitting the ice at TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center in an effort to diagnose its issues from the night before.
"I've been doing this long enough, that if you don't practice for awhile -- and it's great to rest -- but you start getting into bad habits," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "You can't get them fixed without practicing, so hopefully we get them fixed."
Two areas Boudreau wanted to work on on Wednesday were defensive zone coverage and on the team's passing. Boudreau said he estimated the Wild missed on more than a dozen passes Tuesday night.
"When we played St. Louis [Nov. 3], our passing was so right on that we scored five goals," Boudreau said. "A lot of the shooting drills were really passing drills to get our passing back on."

The meeting Thursday between the Wild and Canucks is the second of the season between the clubs; Minnesota started its seven-game trip at Rogers Arena on Oct. 29, losing 5-2 to the Canucks.
Vancouver has spent the past week and a half on the road with the game in St. Paul marking the final contest of a six-game road trip that began in Detroit and went to Boston, Buffalo and New York, where the Canucks lost back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday against the Rangers and Islanders. Vancouver is 1-2-2 on its trip so far.
The Canucks are led offensively by rookie forward Elias Pettersson, who has 10 goals and 17 points. Bo Horvat also has 17 points and is one of three Canucks with eight assists.
Jacob Markstrom has carried a bulk of the load in goal, earning the start in 14 games this season and posting a 3.28 goals-against average and an .896 save percentage.

Hit me with your best shot

• Matt Dumba scored his sixth goal of the season Tuesday, second power-play goal. He has four points (3-1=4) in the last seven games and nine points (6-3=9) in 18 games this season.
• The 24-year-old ranks second amongst NHL defensemen in goals, T-2nd in PPG and T-9th in shots on goal (53). He also ranks T-2nd on the Wild in shots and third in goals.
• The Calgary native tallied a career-best seven hits in the Wild's season opener at COL (10/4) - tied for second-most in a single game by a Wild defenseman in team history and first Wild blueliner to tally seven-or-more hits since Brent Burns (4/30/11 at DET).

O'Captain

• Mikko Koivu led the Wild with two points (1-1=2) Tuesday night vs. WSH. It was his 148th career multi-point contest, fourth this season.
• The Finnish native owns seven points (1-6=7) in the last five games and 13 points (3-10=13) in 17 games this season. He ranks T-1st on the Wild in assists and T-3rd in points.
• The 35-year-old sits at 196 career goals in 942 career games. He will become the second player in franchise history to reach the 200-goal milestone (Marian Gaborik, 219). He is also leads active Finnish-born skaters in career goals and will become the ninth all-time to reach 200 goals.

Series notes

WILD LEADERS: C Mikko Koivu leads Minnesota with 43 points (12-31=43) in 59 games against Vancouver…Suter has 22 points (5-16=21) in 48 matches…LW Zach Parise has 15 points (10-5=15) in 23 contests…D Jared Spurgeon owns 15 points (3-12=15) in 29 games.
WILD GOALIES: Dubnyk is 11-10-4 with a 2.55 GAA, .919 SV% and three shutouts in 27 games (24 starts) vs. the Canucks…G Alex Stalock is 0-1-0 with a 1.99 GAA and a .929 SV% in two games (one start).
CANUCKS LEADERS: LW Loui Eriksson leads Vancouver with 36 points (16-20=36) in 37 games against Minnesota…D Alexander Edler owns 22 points (4-18=22) in 44 contests…C Brandon Sutter owns 15 points (11-4=15) in 17 games.
CANUCKS GOALIES: Markstrom is 2-1-0 with a 2.66 GAA and a .911 SV% in four games (three starts) vs. the Wild…G Anders Nilsson is 1-3-0 with a 3.27 GAA, a .879 SV% and one shutout in four starts…G Richard Bachman is 2-0-0 with a 2.18 GAA and .912 SV% in three games (one start).

Did you know?

Minnesota is 10-7-1 in its last 18 games against the Canucks, including a 6-3-0 mark in its last nine games in Vancouver…The Wild is 10-7-1 in the last 18 games played in Saint Paul…Minnesota's 91 points vs. the Canucks are its third-most against any NHL franchise.