Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Ottawa

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. PAUL -- The Wild returns from its Thanksgiving holiday and to home ice when it hosts the Ottawa Senators in a Black Friday matinee at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota is coming off a 1-0-2 road trip to the East Coast, where it captured four of a possible six points, and likely deserved better than that. The Wild surrendered late leads against both Boston and the New York Rangers before falling in overtime.
It did rally in the finale of the trip by scoring a 3-2 victory in the Wild's third game in four nights Tuesday against New Jersey.

"I thought they were determined," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "It was like, 'We aren't letting this happen again.' And I thought the last 10 minutes we played really good and really smarted."
Minnesota will carry a seven-game points streak into the game on Friday, its longest such span since an eight-game streak between Feb. 21 and March 7 of last season (6-0-2).
It will also carry a seven-game points streak on home ice into the contest. The Wild hasn't lost in regulation at Xcel Energy Center since the home opener on Oct. 12 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, compiling a record of 5-0-2 during that span.
A victory Friday would get the Wild back to .500 on the season. While that is not where the team wants to be, considering the team's 1-6-0 start to the season, as well as its road heavy schedule, getting back to even has been one of the Wild's goals over the past few weeks.
"That definitely would feel better for sure," said Wild forward Eric Staal. "I think we've worked hard to get a chance at it here and tomorrow is that opportunity. Then obviously, we need to build from there. But it starts with getting back to that mark, then moving forward."
Ottawa is playing the front end of back-to-back games on Friday; the Senators will continue on to Calgary, where it will play on Saturday night.

The Sens will play their next five games away from home, as their road trip continues west to Vancouver and Edmonton next week before concluding in Philadelphia next Saturday.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau leads the Senators offense with 13 goals and 19 points. Anthony Duclair is second on the club with 10 goals.
Anders Nilsson and Craig Anderson have split time in the Sens cage nearly evenly, with Nilsson starting 13 games and Anderson 12. Nilsson is 7-5-1 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Anderson has a 4-8-0 record with a 2.96 goals against to go with a .904 save percentage.