The Minnesota Wild face the Chicago Blackhawks with both teams on opposite ends of the standings to close out the season. The Wild have a 45-24-10 record and are in third place in the Central Division while the Blackhawks have a 25-48-6 record and with only one win in their last 10 games, they have the worst record in the Western Conference. Both teams look to improve in the Central Divison to cap off the season strong and the upcoming game should be a good one.
The Wild are having a great season but hope their offense improves, scoring only 2.92 goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy have scored 91 goals and 111 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has struggled. The hope is that Sam Steel and Marcu Foligno can step up as they play a pivotal role in the forward unit but have only scored 17 goals and 31 assists on the season.
The offense has struggled but the defense is one of the best in the NHL, allowing only 2.66 goals per game. Jared Spurgeon and Jacob Middleton have combined for 11.4 defensive point shares and 325 blocked shots while Mathew Dumba, Jonas Brodin, and Jonathon Merrill have combined for 10.4 defensive point shares to add depth to the unit. In addition, goaltender Filip Gustavsson has been great with a .932 save percentage and a 2.06 goals-against average on 1100 shots with 30.4 g oals saved above average.