A franchise-record five-game winning streak brings the Seattle Kraken (2nd in Pacific Division) to a domestic fixture against the Minnesota Wild (4th in Central), who just snapped a two-game skid with a victory in Anaheim.
A two-game losing skid (0-2-0), during which the Minnesota Wild (6-6-1) failed to score a single snipe, came to an end for the team from Saint Paul, as it clinched a 4-1 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday. Playing just 23-and-a-half hours following a 1-0 setback at the Los Angeles Kings, the Wild went 1-0 down at 13:24 of the second period before equalizing three minutes later, adding three more strikes in the final third. Kirill Kaprizov (10 goals, 15 points this year) buried two power-play tallies for Minnesota, which beat Anaheim for a franchise-record 11th straight time.
Goalie Filip Gustavsson (1-3-0 on the season with a 3.10 GAA and a .904 save percentage) stopped 31 shots on Wednesday for his first win in a Wild jersey. But do expect Marc-Andre Fleury back in Minnesota’s crease for the trip to Seattle. Fleury, who has posted a 5-3-1 tally for the current campaign with a 3.17 GAA and a .896 save percentage, is 2-1-1 against the Kraken in past encounters with a 2.70 GAA and a .909 save percentage. The Wild, meanwhile, are 12th in least goals scored per game this year (2.92), 13th in most goals allowed on average (3.23), 6th in power play (26.7%; 12-for-45) and 17th in penalty kill (78.6%; 33-for-42).