The Wild is coming off a season-opening win in Nashville on Thursday night that saw Nick Foligno, Blake Coleman and Kirill Kaprizov score, and Jesper Wallstedt stop 19-of-20 shots faced. The win marked Minnesota’s third consecutive season opening victory. Boston comes into tonight’s game 2-0, with a win over the Rangers on Sept. 29 and an overtime win against Winnipeg last night. Going back to last season, the Bruins owned a record of 8-2-3 in the second game of a back-to-back. Minnesota was 7-5-3 last season against teams on the second night of a back-to-back.
In its last three contests against Boston at home, the Wild is 3-0-0, outscoring the Bruins, 10-4. Last season’s home tilt against the Bruins was a memorable one, as Quinn Hughes made his Wild debut, scoring a goal and helping lead Minnesota to a 6-2 win. In its last 10 games against Boston overall, the Wild owns a 6-3-1 record.
Minnesota is expected to roll out the same lineup it used in Nashville on Thursday, while Boston is expected to have Michael DiPietro in net, who will be making his third career NHL start. The Wild will look to build off its opening night special teams performance, where it scored a power-play goal and killed all four of Nashville’s power-play opportunities.
