The Minnesota Wild face the Nashville Predators in the final regular season game with both teams looking to end the year strong. The Wild have a 46-25-10 record and are in third place in the Central Division while the Predators have a 41-31-8 record and will finish the season just outside of a playoff spot. Both teams are looking to end the season strong and the upcoming game looks to be a good one.
The Wild are having a great season despite their offense struggling and scoring only 2.91 goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy have combined for 92 goals and 112 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has struggled. Only six active skaters have 11 goals or more and opponents can limit the top-heavy offense as a result.
The offense has struggled but the defense has been phenomenal allowing only 2.65 goals per game. Jared Spurgeon and Jacob Middleton have combined for 11.3 defensive point shares and 328 blocked shots while Mathew Dumba, Jonas Brodin, and Jonathon Merrill have combined for 10.6 defensive point shares to add depth to the unit. In addition, goaltender Filip Gustavsson has been great with a .933 save percentage and a 2.05 goals-against average on 1142 shots with 32.3 goals saved above average.