Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Nashville

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
NASHVILLE --With its 10-game point streak in tow, the Wild's four-game road trip shifts west as it plays the Nashville Predators Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena.
Minnesota concluded the Eastern Conference portion of its schedule over the weekend, finishing off a back-to-back sweep in Raleigh and Washington, D.C. with a 3-1 win over the Hurricanes and a 5-1 win over the Capitals on Saturday and Sunday.
The victories wrapped up a 14-0-2 record against the Metropolitan Division this season and a 22-5-4 record versus the East, setting franchise records in both wins and points against Eastern foes in a single season.
With two wins in the bag already on the trip, the Wild can turn its focus to a pair of division rivals in the Predators and St. Louis, where Minnesota will conclude the trip on Friday night.
Both clubs have presented the Wild with problems this season, with Minnesota going 0-2 in a pair of home dates with the Predators. The Wild's last regulation loss came in a 6-2 defeat to Nashville last month in the first game of a marathon nine-game homestand the night the team retired Mikko Koivu's number into the rafters.
Minnesota has piled up a 9-0-1 record since that loss, and has acquired a handful of new players around the NHL's Trade Deadline as well.
Since the last meeting, Tyson Jost, Nicolas Deslauriers, Jake Middleton and Marc-Andre Fleury have been added to the mix. Their only loss in a Wild sweater came in overtime to the Penguins last week at home.
"I think Nashville is going to be a great team and something that we're a little bit of a different hockey team since the last time we played them," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno." I think we're all excited about Tuesday's game. We're not looking ahead further to St. Louis. We want to go into Nashville and do what we've done the past two [games]."
Of course, the next two games also feature a likely first-round playoff opponent for the Wild.
Entering play on Monday, the Wild, Blues and Predators have each played 68 games this season. Minnesota leads the Blues by five points and the Predators by nine points in the standings. The top two teams in that trio would play one another in the First Round, with home ice belonging to the best of the bunch.
"We want to keep perfecting our game and molding it and making sure it's ready to go for whoever we play in Round 1," Foligno said.
"It's a pretty close race in our division. It was important for us to come out and start strong on the road. And I think this is a great momentum for us going into these two games," said Wild forward Jordan Greenway. "Not that these two weren't as big, but obviously, against a division rivalry like that, it's huge."
The line of Foligno, Greenway and Joel Eriksson Ek were key cogs for the Wild in the win over Washington on Sunday. Eriksson Ek scored twice and Foligno once, while Ek and Greenway each posted three-point nights in the victory.
Two newcomers, Jost and Deslauriers, also scored goals. For Jost, who has a point in each of the first two games on the trip playing in an elevated role next to Kevin Fiala, it was his first goal in a Wild sweater. Deslauriers scored his second with Minnesota into an empty net to close out the victory.
Cam Talbot made 25 saves on 26 shots and is 9-0-1 in his past 10 starts dating back to March 3.
Fleury, who could be in line to start against Nashville, is 3-0-0 in his first two weeks with the Wild and is the only player in franchise history to be victorious in each of his first three starts with the club.
And while the two veteran netminders have retained a clean rotation over the past seven games, Wild coach Dean Evason said he's confident no matter whom he puts between the posts.
"If Fleury plays the next game, he's ready to play. If Cam plays, he's ready to play," Evason said. "Both guys are ready to go."
Nashville has been idle the past three days following a 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night at KeyBank Center. The Predators rallied from an early 3-1 deficit to tie the game at 3-3 after one period, before Victor Olofsson scored the only remaining goal 14:25 into the second period.
Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen had two assists each, as Filip Forsberg, Michael McCarron and Jeremy Lauzon tallied goals for the Preds.
Goaltender Juuse Saros, who along with Talbot, represented the Central Division at this season's All-Star Game, made 31 saves. Saros has surrendered at least four goals in three of his past four starts overall.
Roman Josi, the NHL's First Star of the Month for March, leads the club in assists (63) and points (81) and his 18 goals are a career high.
Duchene is in the middle of a resurgent season. He's second on the club with 35 goals and 70 points. Forsberg has a team-high 38 goals while Johansen and former Wild forward Mikael Granlund round out a group of five Predators with at least 50 points on the season.
Save for his recent rough stretch, Saros has been outstanding in 57 games this season, going 33-21-3 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.