Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Los Angeles

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. PAUL -- Following a four-game road trip against teams each expected to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Wild will return to the friendly confines of Xcel Energy Center for the first time in more than a week for a matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.
Minnesota went 2-1-1 on its four-game sojourn, earning wins in Carolina and Washington on the front half, before dropping games to Nashville and St. Louis in tightly-contested division battles, earning five of eight points on the trip.
The Wild has been banged up of late as well, first seeing Matt Boldy go down in an overtime home loss to Pittsburgh, Jon Merrill get hurt against Carolina, then Matt Dumba lost in the game at Nashville. All three have been nursing upper-body ailment injuries.
Wild coach Dean Evason said he expects Boldy to return to the lineup against the Kings, but Merrill and Dumba will not be ready. Minnesota did get some good news on Dumba, as it appears the injury he sustained is not as serious as initially feared. Still, he'll miss some time.
With Dumba and Merrill out, Jake Middleton had his best game in a Wild sweater in the overtime loss to St. Louis, scoring a goal and playing strong overall in all zones.
"I try to keep my game pretty simple and just do the right thing, help my partner, help my teammates on the ice. I felt like I had some juice [on Thursday]," Middleton said. "It's bittersweet because I've been on the schneid for a bit since I got here. I felt like I was getting some good chances to help us get on the scoreboard and fortunately it was a good goal to start the third period and then it would have been nice to hold that one out."
The goal was the first point in a Wild sweater for Middleton, who has been a fixture on the team's first defensive pairing with Jared Spurgeon since his arrival on Trade Deadline day following a deal with the San Jose Sharks.
"Yeah it's tough, you never want to see anyone go down," said Wild forward Tyson Jost. "Midzy's been great ever since he got up here, he's added size and all the stuff that we wanted from him, he's also a great guy in the locker room too. That's the mentality we have in our locker room, next man up, and it's crunch time now, so everyone needs to be performing at their playoff best here."
Jost found his stride in an elevated role on the trip. Skating in Boldy's spot next to Kevin Fiala and Freddy Gaudreau, Jost had one point in three of the four games and had several other grade-A chances denied on terrific stops by goaltenders, including one from in tight in the loss to the Blues on Thursday.
With Boldy returning, Jost could slide back into his previous role as the center on the fourth line with Nick Bjugstad coming out, or he could replace Brandon Duhaime on the wing.
Nicolas Deslauriers has established himself as a valuable sandpaper guy on that line and has also chipped in with a pair of goals since he was acquired last month from the Anaheim Ducks.
Deslauriers was in and out of the game in St. Louis after blocking a shot in the first period, but should be fine moving forward.
The game for the Kings marks the beginning of a three-game road trip against Central Division foes, one that will continue Tuesday night in Chicago and Wednesday in Denver versus the Colorado Avalanche.
Los Angeles is coming off a 3-2 loss at home on Thursday to the Edmonton Oilers, a crushing defeat that moved the Oilers three points clear of the Kings for second in the Pacific Division. Edmonton also has a game in hand.
The Kings have a solid -- but shrinking -- cushion for the third and final playoff spot in the Pacific, as the fourth-place Vegas Golden Knights entered the day Saturday four points back of L.A. with one game in hand.
Vegas has posted a 7-3-0 record over its past 10 games while the Kings have gone just 4-4-2 during that same stretch.
The contest Sunday marks the third and final matchup of the season between the clubs and will serve as the rubber game of the series so far. The two teams have split their two meetings at Crypto.com Arena, with Minnesota winning 3-2 in the first game on Oct. 16 and Los Angeles winning the rematch 2-1 on Dec. 11.
One-goal games are nothing new between these clubs; over the past 41 games the clubs have played, 15 of them have gone to overtime or the shootout. The Wild is 20-5-5 against the Kings in the last 30 games contested at Xcel Energy Center.
Anze Kopitar leads the Kings offensive attack with 61 points, including 43 assists. Adrian Kempe has a team-high 31 goals.
Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen have split time in goal while posting virtually identical numbers. Quick has started 39 games, posting a 17-13-9 record with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.
Petersen, a native of Waterloo, Iowa, has started 33 games and is 20-12-1 with a 2.70 goals against and a .902 save percentage.