Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Arizona

The essentials

The opponent

Although Arizona has been eliminated from playoff contention, Minnesota's two previous games against the Coyotes this season show they aren't a team to be taken lightly.
On the contrary, they're on something of a hot streak. The Coyotes have won six of their past 10 games, including one in Glendale against the Wild earlier in March, and snagged a point in overtime in one of the four losses.
Rookie forward Clayton Keller leads the team in goals (19) and points (51), and is second in assists with 32, just one behind team leader Derek Stepan. Christian Dvorak is tops on the roster in goal production for March and has matched his career high in goals for a season. Defensive superstar Oliver Ekman-Larsson has goals in two of his past three games, and his next will be his 100th career marker.
Former Wild netminder Darcy Kuemper has found his way to Arizona after starting the season with the Los Angeles Kings, with a 2-3-1 record. He picked up his first shutout in a Coyotes sweater March 11 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Antti Raanta, who has played in both games against the Wild this season, has been dealing with a lower-body injury and has not played since March 3; however, Adin Hill, who subbed into the lineup in his absence, was re-assigned to the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League on Friday, implying Raanta may return sooner rather than later.

Connections

• Kuemper was selected by the Wild in the sixth round (161st overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and backstopped 102 games (89 starts), posting a 41-34-14 record with a 2.60 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage and seven shutouts in five seasons (2012-2017).
• Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk went 9-5-2 with a 2.72 goals-against, .916 save percentage and one shutout in 19 games (16 starts) with Arizona during the 2014-15 season before being acquired by the Wild on Jan. 14, 2015.
• Arizona's Derek Stepan and Alex Goligoski are Minnesota natives, hailing from Hastings and Grand Rapids, respectively.

Back to back

After earning a win in Vegas Friday night, the Wild finishes its 13th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season Saturday. Minnesota is 7-5-1 on the first night of action and 4-7-1 on the second night of play. The Wild has sets of back-to-back games on each of the first four weekends in March, and it saw Arizona on the front end of a back-to-back to kick off the month.

Going for No. 200

Devan Dubnyk sits at 199 NHL career wins, including 129 victories with the Wild. After Alex Stalock got the start and the win Friday in Vegas, Dubnyk will get a chance to reach that milestone against his former team.
Since being traded from Arizona to Minnesota on Jan. 14, 2015, he leads all NHL goalies (min. 150 games) in games played (222), games started (218) and shutouts (19), ranks second in wins (129) and goals-against average (2.28), and is tied for second in save percentage (.922). Dubnyk has posted at least 30 wins in each of the last four seasons.

Playoff push

Following its 4-2 victory Friday at Las Vegas, Minnesota sits three points clear of Colorado, Dallas, Anaheim and Los Angeles (84 points apiece) and third in the Central Division. The Wild can further distance itself from the wild card slot with a win Saturday; both Colorado and Dallas lost Friday and are idle Saturday before playing Sunday against Detroit and Winnipeg, respectively.
Overall, Minnesota's 87 points rank eighth in the NHL. The Wild is 12-5-2 since Feb. 6, tying for third in the League in points during that span.
Related:
- Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 4, Vegas 2 - Zucker's storybook night in home town of Vegas - Central Intelligence: Minnesota's place in current playoff picture