Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Carolina

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Wild will try to cap a perfect three-game road trip on Saturday night when it faces the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
Minnesota secured a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, which gave the club a 2-0 record through the state of Florida. It also extended the team's points streak to 11 games, the second longest in franchise history.
Mats Zuccarello had the game-winning goal and also chipped in two assists for his first three-point game in a Wild sweater. The veteran winger has heated up during Minnesota's points streak, scoring three goals and chipping in six assists over the past nine games overall.
His line, with Jason Zucker and Eric Staal, was Minnesota's best on Thursday, with the trio accounting for three of the team's five goals and combining for two goals and four assists in the game.
"I think it's really good. Every game we're creating a lot of chances," Zuccarello said after the game. "Obviously, we've played many games together, and that helps. We're starting to get into rhythm and know where each other is and stuff like that, so that's important."

The Wild's points streak has vaulted it from last in the NHL standings all the way up to the second wild card position in the Western Conference as of the start of the day Friday. Minnesota's 19 points since Nov. 14 is second in the NHL behind only Boston (20).
Carolina is coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday at PNC Arena. Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist while Warren Foegele has two assists to lead the Hurricanes offense. Petr Mrazek made 28 saves, then stopped all three Sharks attempts in the shootout.
The Canes began the day Friday atop the wild card standings in the Eastern Conference and are 9-5-0 on home ice this season.
Svechnikov leads the club with 31 points and is second with 12 goals. Sebastian Aho has a team-leading 13 goals. Four players have at least 20 points, including Svechnikov, Aho, defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Teuvo Teravainen, who is tied with Svechnikov for most assists with 19.
Mrazek has seen a bulk of the starts in net and is the expected starter on Saturday. He's 12-6-1 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage in 19 starts this season.