After snapping a two-game slide with a victory versus the New York Rangers, the Nashville Predators (7th in Central Division) will try to continue in similar fashion while hosting the Minnesota Wild (4th in Central), who just ended a two-game win run.
A two-game winning run came to an end for the Minnesota Wild (7-6-2), who still extended their current point streak to three fixtures (2-0-1) after being dealt a 3-2 shootout setback by the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday. Frederick Gaudreau (2 goals, 5 points this year) got the scoring rolling at 6:45 of the opening frame, while Connor Dewar (1 goal, 5 points) gave the Wild a 2-0 lead at the start of the third period with a shorty before San Jose netted twice in less than two minutes to force the extra session, eventually triumphing in the skills competition with two snipes to one. Kirill Kaprizov (10 goals, 17 points) tallied in the shootout for Minnesota, which has lost three of its past five games (2-2-1).
Goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots on Sunday and has now gone 1-3-1 for the ongoing campaign with a 2 .81 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Do expect Marc-Andre Fleury back in the net for Minnesota in Nashville, though. Fleury, who has posted a 6-3-1 total for the season with a 2.87 GAA and a .905 save percentage, is 11-8-2 against the Predators historically with a 2.31 GAA and a .916 save percentage. The Wild, meanwhile, are scoring the 9th lowest number of goals per game this year (2.73), while conceding the 13th lowest quantity defensively (2.93). They are 9th in power play (24.0%; 12-for-50) and 10th in penalty kill (81.6%; 40-for-49).