Wild Returns Home to Face Golden Knights Following Road Trip Victory

After playing four of its first five games on the road, Minnesota returns home tonight for a matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:00 p.m. on Wild+ and KFAN FM 100.3. Coming off a win in Florida that saw Kirill Kaprizov net a hat trick, Matt Boldy land on the score sheet (1-1=2) and Jesper Wallstedt stop 29-of-30 shots faced, Minnesota will have its hands full with a Vegas team that is 5-1-0 and has won four consecutive games.

Tonight’s contest could easily come down to the special team’s battle. Minnesota has scored a power play goal in every game this season, ranking T-4th in the NHL with six. The Wild’s penalty kill also remains strong, as it killed off all five of Florida’s power play attempts on Saturday night, moving its penalty kill percentage to 94.1 on the season (16-17), T-2nd highest in the NHL. For Vegas, they enter tonight ranked T-2nd in the NHL with seven power play goals and a penalty kill that has only allowed three power play goals on 16 attempts.

Looking back on last season with these two teams, Minnesota found success against the Golden Knights, winning all three games and outscoring Vegas, 12-6. That marked the second time Minnesota swept the season-series against Vegas, also doing so in 2017-18. However, prior to last season, Vegas had won five consecutive games against Minnesota.

Jesper Wallstedt will get his sixth start of the season tonight for Minnesota, with Calvin Pickard scheduled to make his Wild debut tomorrow in Winnipeg. Wallstedt is 3-1-1 with a 1.78 GAA and a .936 SV% in his five starts. He ranks fourth in the NHL in SV% and fifth in GAA (min. four games played).

Players to Watch:

Blake Coleman: Per Stats Perform, Coleman has recorded multiple goals in four different career games against the Golden Knights, the most by any player all-time. He comes into tonight with three points (2-1=3) in his first five games.

Kirill Kaprizov: Coming off his aforementioned hat trick, Kaprizov, who ranks T-1st in the NHL with six goals, owns 17 points (11-6=17) in 19 career games against Vegas.