The Minnesota Wild face the Chicago Blackhawks with both teams off to promising starts to the season. The Wild have a 3-4-1 record while the Blackhawks have a 4-3-1 record to start the season and look to rebound from a rough overtime loss. Both teams are looking to improve in the Central Division and the Western Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Wild are off to a promising start to the season with their offense scoring 3.71 goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy have scored 13 goals and 14 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has also stepped up. Joel Eriksson Ek, Brandon Duhaime, and Ryan Hartman have combined for seven goals and six assists while defenseman Calen Addison has added seven assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has looked great but the defense has let the Wild down to start the season, allowing 4.29 goals per game. Jacob Middleton and Jared Spurgeon have led the top two pairings but the rest of the defense has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net with ease. Additionally, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury hopes to improve from a difficult start as he has a .879 save percentage and a 3.88 goals-against average on 174 shots.