The Minnesota Wild (22-14-4, 48 points, 3rd Central) are on the road Thursday with a visit to Elmont, New York and the UBS Arena to play the New York Islanders (22-17-3, 47 points, 6th Metro). Minnesota was defeated by the New York Rangers 4-3 on Tuesday in a shootout and the Wild have lost each of the last three. New York was defeated by the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Tuesday in a shootout and the Islanders have lost each of the last three and four of the last five. Minnesota does not have any players on its injury report, while the Islanders will play without Kyle Palmieri, Adam Pelech and Oliver Wahlstrom.
Minnesota is allowing an average of 2.85 goals per game which is 11th best in the NHL. The Wild are allowing an average of 30.1 shots per game which is 9th best. Minnesota's penalty kill unit is successful 78.8% of the time the Wild are shorthanded which is only 16th in the NHL. Marc-Andre Fleury is 13-8-2 with a 2.94 goals against average and .901 save percentage in 25 appearances between the pipes for Minnesota. Fleury has just one shut out thus far. Backup Filip Gustavsson is 9-6-1 with a 2.25 goals against average and .924 save percentage, with one shutout in 16 appearances.
Minnesota is scoring an average of 3.15 goals per game which is 18th in the NHL. The Wild are averaging 31.4 shots per game which is also 18th. Minnesota's power play scores 23.6% of the time the Wild have the man advantage which is 14th in the NHL. Kirill Kaprizov is leading Minnesota in all major offensive stats. The left winger has team best in goals scored with 24, assists with 25 and points with 49. The second leading goal scorer for Minnesota is Mats Zuccarello with 17 while Joel Eriksson Ek has scored 14. Zuccarello is also second in assists with 24 and therefore second in overall points with 41. Minnesota has scored 30 goals on the power play in 40 games.