The Minnesota Wild face the Ottawa Senators with both teams looking to build off strong stretches. The Wild have a 2-3-1 record but have won two of their last three games. The Senators meanwhile started the season 0-2 but a four-game winning streak has them at 4-2 and near the top of the Atlantic Division. Both teams are expected to have great seasons and finish near the top of their divisions and the upcoming game should be a good one as result.
The Wild have turned a corner on the season with their offense stepping up and scoring 3.67 goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy have combined for 11 goals and 13 assists to lead the top two lines but the entire offense has been great. Joel Eriksson Ek, Brandon Duhaime, and Marcus Foligno have combined for seven goals and four assists while defensemen Calen Addison and Jacob Middleton have added a goal and nine assists from the point to put the offense over the top.
The offense has looked great but the defense has been awful to start the season, allowing 4.67 goals per game. Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin have stepped up on the top pairing but the rest of the defense has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. Furthermore, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is having an awful start to the season with a .869 save percentage and a 4.30 goals-aga inst average on 145 shots.