"We mentioned that this morning when we were doing our pre-scout meeting, that we haven't seen them in a long time," Evason said. "Different team, different year, different league. It seems to be a theme."
Tuesday's game will also be the first in front of a full-capacity house in downtown St. Paul for the first time since March 3, 2020.
"Everyone in that room is excited. We can't wait for the home opener," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. "Just to see our fans and get them going, fire them up and just to see that whole place packed ... it was fun playing in Anaheim and L.A. and again see some fans because those arenas were weird not having them there.
"But we're just excited for our home crowd. I think there's a buzz around us this year and winning our first two games, our fans are going to be extra excited and expect us to win [on Tuesday night] like we do ourselves."
The Wild secured a 2-1 win to start its season in Anaheim on Friday night, getting the winning goal from Foligno with 7.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Kevin Fiala also scored in the game.
The following night, Minnesota continued getting contributions from up and down the lineup, getting goals from Freddy Gaudreau, Victor Rask and Ryan Hartman in the second period, once again erasing a 1-0 deficit in earning a victory.
Goaltender Cam Talbot was outstanding each night, making 28 saves versus Anaheim and 29 in Los Angeles in getting the victories.
"We thought going over both games, on the chance sheet, we thought we did a really good job 5-on-5of limiting," Evason said. "We were doing a lot of really good things in all three zones to defend and it didn't hurt us offensively."
Like the Wild, Winnipeg started its season in California. But that's where the similarities between the two starts end.
The Jets lost their Opening Night game in Anaheim by a 4-1 score last Wednesday, then followed it up with a 4-3 loss at the hands of the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
A big reason for the shaky start has been an uneven power play, which has started the season scoreless in its first eight opportunities. Winnipeg finished last season with the seventh-best power play in the NHL, converting 23 percent of its chances.
One key cog in that power play could be absent from the lineup on Tuesday, as Plymouth native Blake Wheeler was placed on the COVID-19 list. He did not practice with the team at Xcel Energy Center on Monday and his status for the game is unknown.
"[These games are] always going to be a little more (like) the end of the regular season and playoff-like," forward Nikolaj Ehlers told the Jets' team website on Monday. "This building, they've got some pretty passionate fans too. These are going to be fun games and we're going to try to go out there and play the way we can and work as hard as we can to get the two points."
