Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Winnipeg

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
WINNIPEG -- For the first time in well over two years, the Wild will play its northern neighbors on the road Tuesday when it begins the second half of the regular season with a game against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre.
Two full calendar years have passed (851 days) since the Wild lost 5-2 at what was then called Bell MTS Place, the last time the Wild played in Winnipeg.
Minnesota won't have to wait long for a return trip, however, as the division rivals will connect here again next week.
This time around, the Wild enters the festivities on a 10-game point streak, its longest since 2019, and sitting in third place in the Central Division with a handful of games in hand on the clubs around it.
In the final game before the All-Star break last Wednesday, the Wild secured a dominant 5-0 win over another division-rival, the Chicago Blackhawks, at the United Center.
Minnesota hasn't lost in regulation in more than a month, having gone 9-0-1 over its past 10 games since the Winter Classic loss to the St. Louis Blues at Target Field.
But the game Tuesday marks the final one of 42 to start the year in a wonky schedule that has been hit or miss. Minnesota won't play again until Saturday night, a game that begins a 40-game sprint to the finish line in a span of just 77 days.

"We've got a lot of hockey games coming up," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "With literally every second day, we were happy to get some rest [during the All-Star break] and get everyone to heal up. Now we've got the second half and we're looking forward to that."
The Wild got good news and bad news on the injury front, at least in terms of how it effects Tuesday's lineup.
Forward Marcus Foligno is expected to return after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury. Foligno crashed hard into the boards breaking up a 2-on-0 breakaway in New York at Madison Square Garden.
His play may have saved the game; the Wild was down 2-0 at the time and rallied to win 3-2, but Foligno hasn't played since. That should change on Tuesday.

"It was something that I was able to play the rest of the game, but that next morning was tough to walk," Foligno said. "Got some time to quiet down after that collision and it was nice timing with the break. Was able to get a little rest and get back at it now."
The Wild will be without defenseman Matt Dumba, however, as he continues to recover from an upper-body injury. Dumba was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday but that was a move designed to create roster space for an extra defenseman for the trip.
With taxi squads dissolved, normal roster rules will apply post-All-Star break. With Dumba unavailable, the team recalled defenseman Kevin Czuczman and forward Mitchell Chaffee from Iowa of the American Hockey League to serve as extras.
Evason said he does expect Dumba to be ready to re-join the fray when the Wild hosts the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.
"We expect him very shortly," Evason said. "He won't play [Tuesday] but we're very optimistic that he'll be in the next one."

Coming off his first appearance in the All-Star Game, goaltender Cam Talbot will get a few extra days of rest as Kaapo Kahkonen will get the start.
Talbot stopped all 30 shots he faced in the win over Chicago before the break, but left for Las Vegas the following morning and didn't get much of a rest because of the festivities. Talbot started both Central Division games in the All-Star Game, helping the Central to a win over the Atlantic Division before falling to the Metropolitan Division in the championship.
Kahkonen hasn't played since a 4-3 win over the Islanders on Jan. 30, a game in which he made 40 saves. Kahkonen has won six of his past seven starts, going 6-0-1 during that stretch.
Winnipeg got some bad news on its roster front as it returned from break on Monday, putting center Pierre-Luc Dubois, defenseman Neal Pionk and forward Austin Poganski on COVID-19 protocol.
Dubois is in the United States and won't be back until at least Friday when the Jets begin a weekend back-to-back in Dallas.

Pionk, a Hermantown native, is second among Winnipeg defensemen with 16 points this season, while Dubois is second on the team in both goals (18) and points (33) and went into the break on a four-game point streak.
"I mean, darn near our whole team has had COVID now at this point, less a couple guys," Jets captain Blake Wheeler told the team website. "Hopefully we're able to stay off that track. You don't want to get to used to having faces out of your line-up every game for something like that. Unfortunately, it's just been the usual for our team."
Wheeler had COVID earlier this season, an illness that forced him to miss the first meeting between the clubs this season, a crazy come-from-behind 6-5 Wild victory in Minnesota's home opener back in October.
The Wild also won at home 7-1 in a Black Friday Matinee.
Wheeler has just two goals in 28 games this season but has chipped in 18 assists.
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to earn the start in goal for the Jets. He's 14-15-6 with a 2.90 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in 35 starts this season.