Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Calgary

The essentials

CALGARY -- The Wild aims to go 2-for-2 to start its road trip on Thursday when it faces the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Minnesota scored three power-play goals in a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, the first of three games against teams in Western Canada. The Wild finishes its trip Friday in Edmonton.
Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Jason Zucker scored goals for the Wild in Vancouver, and got 29 saves from goaltender Devan Dubnyk, as Minnesota won the third and final meeting of the season against the Canucks.

While Minnesota and Vancouver have finished its season series, the Wild will faceoff against the Flames for the first of three meetings this season, including two in the span of nine days; the two clubs will meet again Dec. 15 in St. Paul.
Calgary returns home to open a stretch of three-of-four games at the Saddledome on Thursday. The Flames are coming off a 9-6 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and have earned at least a point in five-straight contests, going 4-0-1 during that span.
Since Nov. 17, the Flames have posted a 7-1-1 record, moving to the top spot in the Pacific Division.
Calgary boasts one of the top offenses in the NHL, with it's 3.57 goals-per-game tied for fifth-most in the League entering play on Wednesday. Its power play is ranked 11th, converting at a 23.8 percent clip.

As of Wednesday, 29 players in the NHL have at least 30 points this season; four of them play for the Flames.
That group is led by Johnny Gaudreau, who has 12 goals and 35 points. Sean Monahan is the team's leading goal scorer, potting 17 goals and 16 assists. Matthew Tkachuk (32 points) and Elias Lindholm (30 points) also have at least 30 points with defenseman Mark Giordano (27 points) not far behind.
In goal, the Flames have had nearly an even split, with Mike Smith earning the start in 16 games (9-7-1, 3.11 GAA, .844 SV%) and David Rittich (12-8-2, 2.39, .919) starting 12.

Series notes

2017-18: Minnesota went 2-0-1 in three season meetings against Calgary…The Wild took the first game against the Flames with a 4-2 victory at Scotiabank Saddledome (10/21), earned a 2-1 shootout win in the second game at Xcel Energy Center (12/12) and recorded a point in the third game with a 3-2 overtime loss in Saint Paul (1/9)…D Ryan Suter led Minnesota with six points (1-5=6)…D Jared Spurgeon tallied three points (2-1=3)… RW Mikael Granlund (1-1=2), C Mikko Koivu (0-2=2) and RW Luke Kunin (0-2=2) collected two points apiece…G Alex Stalock went 2-0-1 with a 2.15 GAA and a .928 SV% in three games (two starts)… Dubnyk started the second contest, stopping all 10 shots faced… Gaudreau led the Flames with five assists… Monahan (2-1=3) owned three points…D T.J. Brodie (0-2=2) and Giordano (0-2=2) tallied two points apiece… Smith went 1-1-1 with a 1.93 GAA and a .932 SV% in three starts.
WILD LEADERS: Koivu leads the Wild with 36 points (13-23=36) in 62 games vs. Calgary… Suter owns 23 points (4-19=23) in 48 matches… Parise owns 21 points (13-8=21) in 21 games… Spurgeon has 11 points (5-6=11) in 28 contests…C Eric Staal owns 10 points (4-6=10) in 18 matches…C Charlie Coyle has nine points (2-7=9) in 19 games.
WILD GOALIES: Dubnyk is 11-7-4 with a 2.23 GAA, .923 SV% and two shutouts in 25 games (24 starts) against the Flames…Stalock is 3-2-3 with a 2.46 GAA and a .903 SV% in nine games (seven starts).
FLAMES LEADERS:Giordano leads the Flames with 18 points (6-12=18) in 42 games vs. Minnesota… LW James Neal owns 13 points (8-5=13) in 25 matches… RW Michael Frolik has 10 points (5-5=10) in 27 games… C Mikael Backlund owns 10 points (5-5=10) in 28 contests.
FLAMES GOALIES: Smith is 5-11-2 with a 2.30 GAA, a .916 SV% and two shutouts in 19 games (17 starts) against the Wild… Rittich has not faced Minnesota.

Did you know?

Minnesota is 13-5-3 in its last 21 games against Calgary, including an eight-game point streak (7-0-1, 11/5/13-3/24/16)… The Wild is 12-5-2 in its last 19 games at the Saddledome after starting 3-18-4.