It’s Hockey Day Minnesota as the Minnesota Wild take on the Florida Panthers tonight at 8:00 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network and KFAN FM 100.3. All time, the Wild owns a 14-4-1 record on Hockey Day Minnesota. While the festivities take place outside at the United Heroes League complex in Hastings, MN, the Wild will look to close out Hockey Day with another win inside of Grand Casino Arena after beating the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, in overtime on Thursday night.
Tonight, the Wild also celebrates former players Marc-Andre Fleury, Alex Goligoski and Eric Staal, in its final 25th Anniversary Celebration night. Fans who purchased a special 25th Anniversary Bobblehead ticket will receive a Kirill Kaprizov bobblehead, fitting for a guy who has a point (5-10=15) in every game he has played against Florida.
The Wild is slowly returning to full strength as Matt Boldy will return tonight after missing the previous four games due to a lower body injury. Prior to his injury, Boldy ranked T-3rd in the NHL in goals (27), T-7th in SHG (two), 10th in shots (157) and T-17th in points (27-24=51). Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson both returned from their respective injuries on Thursday night, while Zach Bogosian (lower body) and Jonas Brodin (lower body) remain out of the lineup.
Filip Gustavsson will get the start for Minnesota tonight, after earning the 100th win of his NHL career against Detroit on Thursday night. In his career against Florida, Gustavsson owns a 3-2-1 record with a 2.34 GAA, a .928 SV% and one shutout and has won his last three starts against the Panthers. Over his last 13 starts, Gustavsson owns a 10-1-2 record with a 2.38 GAA, a .911 SV% and one shutout.
Sergei Bobrovsky will be in net for the Panthers—he comes into tonight’s contest with a 19-14-1 record, a 3.09 GAA, a .875 SV% and three shutouts. Bobrovsky has lost his last two outings, allowing 13 goals, including a 9-1 loss to Carolina on Jan. 16. The back-to-back Stanley Cup champions are 4-2-0 in their last six games are coming off a 2-1 shootout win over Winnipeg on Thursday.
Quinn Hughes (1-7=8), Kaprizov (2-8=10) and Mats Zuccarello (3-5=8) all enter tonight’s game with a point in four consecutive games and are your players watch in tonight’s Hockey Day Minnesota Finale.
