Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Nashville

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. PAUL -- The Wild will make plenty of history on its upcoming homestand, which begins Sunday night when it hosts the Nashville Predators at Xcel Energy Center.
Longtime former captain Mikko Koivu will be the first player in team history to have his jersey number retired when the club hoists his No. 9 sweater into the rafters.
Koivu, the franchise's all-time leader in almost every major category, was the Wild's first permanent captain and played in 1,028 games with the club.
Koivu's number retirement ceremony begins at 5 p.m. sharp on Sunday, and will be televised on Bally Sports North and broadcast live on KFAN FM 100.3, as well as the Wild Radio Network.
Once that's over, the Wild will go about the business of playing hockey when it opens a nine-game stretch of games in downtown St. Paul, the longest homestand it has had in its 21-year existence.
"This is a big stretch for us. On home ice we should take command and come out flying," said Wild forward Mats Zuccarello. "We love playing at home. We've been good at home. Just have to keep that going."
There's plenty on the line for Minnesota on Sunday, as the Wild and Predators battle for territory in the Central Division. The clubs are separated by two points in the standings, with Minnesota also holding a game in hand.
The game could also set the tone for the entire homestand for the Wild, which has played a difficult stretch of games since returning from the All-Star break more than a month ago.
Minnesota has piled up the miles during that stretch, making a pair of trips to Winnipeg eight days apart (with two home games in between), heading home for a single game ahead of a week-long trip to Canada that spanned Edmonton to Ottawa to Toronto and back to Calgary. A single game in St. Paul was a prelude to back-to-backs last week in Philadelphia and Buffalo, followed by two home games and another back-to-back this week in Detroit and Columbus.
"We want to establish our building, we want to make it a hard place to come play and that's the style we've gotta play so that we get most of those points," said Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. "They're crucial this time of the year obviously, everyone is pushing for the playoffs, it's going to get tighter and tighter, so it's huge."
Minnesota won't hit the road again until early April, when it begins a four-game stretch away from home on April 2 in Carolina. Games in Washington, Nashville and St. Louis follow.
Minnesota has more games on its upcoming homestand (nine) than it does road games the rest of the season (eight), while also mixing in eight more games in St. Paul in the month of April.
No team in the NHL has played more road games and has more games at home remaining than the Wild, who are in a strong position to make up some of the recent ground it has lost.
But only if it takes care of business on home ice, where it had been one of the best teams in the NHL until a recent rough stretch.
"It's always nice to be at home," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We've talked about it a lot what our fans have given us this year it's been phenomenal and we look forward to that energy that they're going to give us each and every night."
Minnesota is coming off a win and a shootout loss in Detroit and Columbus on Thursday and Friday, winning 6-5 in a shootout against the Red Wings before watching a late one-goal lead melt away versus the Blue Jackets.
The Wild has captured five of a possible six points, however, stemming the negative tide following losses in six of its previous eight contests.
Nashville will be playing the second of back-to-back games on Sunday following a 7-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Bridgestone Arena.
Roman Josi leads the Predators with 47 assists and 62 points while Matt Duchene (31) and Filip Forsberg (29) have jockeyed for the team lead in goals.
Sunday's matchup could feature a pair of All-Star goaltenders as Cam Talbot and Juuse Saros each represented the Central Division last month in Las Vegas. Saros is 28-18-3 in 49 games (all starts) with a 2.44 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
The game marks the second of four meetings between the division rivals this season. Nashville won 5-2 at Xcel Energy Center back on Oct. 24. Minnesota will travel to he Music City twice over the final month of the regular season, playing at Bridgestone Arena on April 5 and 24.