Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Vegas

The essentials

The opponent

Following a five-game road trip in which they won four games, the Vegas Golden Knights returned home on Wednesday and were defeated soundly, 8-3, by the New Jersey Devils.
It was a rare poor result for the Golden Knights on home ice this season, as Vegas has posted a 24-8-2 record at T-Mobile Arena, where they will play each of their next three games and seven of their next nine to round out the month of March.
Thursday marks the third and final meeting of the regular season between the Wild and Knights. Minnesota has won each of the first two games, both at Xcel Energy Center, winning 4-2 on Nov. 30 and by a 5-2 margin on Feb. 2.
Jonathan Marchessault leads the Golden Knights with 65 points, including 22 goals and 43 assists. William Karlsson has a team-best 36 goals while David Perron has 47 assists. Five players have scored at least 22 goals for Vegas this season, including Marchessault, Reilly Smith (22), James Neal (24), Erik Haula (27) and Karlsson.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has started 38 games, posting a 25-10-3 record with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage.

Connections

• Wild forward Jason Zucker is from Las Vegas. He is the only Nevada-raised player currently playing in the NHL.
• Golden Knights forward Erik Haula was selected by Minnesota in the seventh round (182nd overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He collected 89 points (42-47=89) in 266 games with the Wild in four seasons (2013-17).
• Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch was drafted 18th overall by the Wild of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and made his NHL debut with Minnesota, skating in six games during the 2016-17 season.
• Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt hails from St. Cloud and played at the University of Minnesota (2010-13).

Playoff push

The Wild enters the day Friday in third place in the Central Division, narrowly holding onto the spot over the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.
Minnesota is three points clear of the Anaheim Ducks (with one game in hand), the first team out of the Western Conference playoff picture.

Bad beat

The Wild is one of two teams in the NHL, and the only one in the Western Conference, the Golden Knights have been unable to solve this season (New York Islanders).
Vegas has at least two wins against 13 teams in the NHL, three wins versus both Chicago and Anaheim and four wins against Arizona.
Related:
- Zucker prepares for first NHL game in home town - Wild defense scoring in bunches - Watch: Zucker returns to Vegas