Wild concludes four-game trip Wednesday against the Maple Leafs
ByDan Myers
Wild.com
The Essentials
The Opponent
The Toronto Maple Leafs are well rested following a three-game trip to western Canada last week that concluded Saturday with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Rookie forward Auston Matthews has been outstanding this season and is tied with James van Riemsdyk for the team lead with 11 goals. Matthews has five goals and seven points over the past five games.
Connections
• Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau was a third-round pick of the Maple Leafs in the 1975 NHL Draft and played in 134 games with the franchise, scoring 27 goals and accruing 69 points. • Wild assistant coach John Anderson was picked in the first round of the 1977 NHL Draft by Toronto, collecting 393 points in 534 career games with the Leafs. • Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson was a fourth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in the 1990 NHL Draft and played in 233 games over five seasons with Toronto. • Wild forward Chris Stewart is a Toronto native. • Wild forward Tyler Graovac was born in nearby Brampton, Ontario. • Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner grew up in Minnetonka and played at Minnetonka High School before playing three seasons at the University of Wisconsin.
Cutting it Close
The Wild's past four games have all been decided by one goal, with two going to a shootout and one decided in overtime. Of Minnesota's 24 games this season, 16 have been decided by a single goal, with the Wild posting a 5-7-4 record in those games. In games decided by more than one goal, Minnesota is 7-1-0, outscoring opponents 32-8 in the seven wins.
At the Rink
Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk is expected to make his 300th NHL start on Wednesday when the Wild plays the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. Dubnyk has piled up starts in his nearly two years with the Wild; he will make his 125th start with Minnesota since being acquired in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14, 2015. He made 157 starts in four-plus years with the Edmonton Oilers, the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2004 NHL Draft. Dubnyk has also made two starts with the Nashville Predators and 16 more with the Coyotes. "It's crazy," Dubnyk said. "It's been fun. Fingers crossed there will be some more."
Dubnyk won his 69th game as a member of the Wild in Edmonton on Sunday night, and if he can guide Minnesota to No. 70, it would give the Wild a winning road trip. The Wild will try and avoid a late-trip letdown against a Maple Leafs club that has been good at home (8-3-0) and fantastic in the first period. Toronto's 27 goals in opening frames this season is second-best in the NHL and far more than the Leafs have scored in any other period. "They play well without the puck in their own zone," said Wild forward Zach Parise. "They have a lot of skill up front, a lot of young players that play fast and are pretty dangerous. You gotta be aware when they're out there."
