Wild face off against the high-flying Hurricanes tonight! Check out projected line combinations and starting goalies for this crucial matchup.
ST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild (9-7-4) host the Carolina Hurricanes (13-5-1) tonight for a late 8:30 p.m. game on national TV. Here is tonights preview.
The Wild come into Wednesday's game owning an active five-game point streak (4-0-1), tied for the second-longest active streak in the NHL. They are also 6-1-1 in November which ranks tied for first in the NHL in wins and points (13) and ranks tied for second with a .813 point percentage.
The Hurricanes are 7-2-1 in their last ten games and sit at the top of the standings in the Metropolitan division and in the Eastern Conference.
Minnesota is 6-3-0 in its last nine games against Carolina since 2/12/22 and has earned a point in ten of its last 11 home games against the Hurricanes (8-1-2) and is 11-3-2 in its last 16 home games, scoring three-plus goals in 13 of those contests.
Carolina won the first meeting this season 4-3 over the Wild. Filip Gustavsson started that game against Frederik Andersen. But it will be Jesper Wallstedt tonight against Andersen and the Canes.
Wallstedt is 4-0-2 on the year with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage with two shutouts. He carries a shutout streak of 141:09 into tonights game and is the only NHL goaltender with multiple shutouts this season.
Among NHL goaltenders with six-plus games played, Wallstedt ranks second in goals-against average and third in save percentage.
Wallstedt, with three career shutouts, joins Josh Harding (3) as the only Wild goaltenders to earn three or more shutouts as a rookie in franchise history.
Ryan Hartman was added to the Injured Reserve and Hunter Haight was recalled to be the 13th forward. Marco Rossi and Vladimir Tarasenko will miss their third consecutive game tonight. They both sit with lower-body injuries.
All these injuries have opened the door for rookie Danila Yurov. He will move up from the fourth line to the first line tonight and center Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.
Wild Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Danila Yurov - Mats Zuccarello
Matt Boldy - Joel Eriksson Ek - Marcus Johansson
Marcus Foligno - Yakov Trenin - Vinnie Hinostroza
Liam Ohgren - Ben Jones - Tyler Pitlick
Defense:
Jake Middleton - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber
Zeev Buium - Daemon Hunt
Starting Goaltender: Jesper Wallstedt
Scratched: David Jiricek, Hunter Haight
Injured: Marco Rossi (lower-body), Nico Sturm (back), Ryan Hartman (lower-body), Vladimir Tarasenko (lower-body), Zach Bogosian (lower-body).
Hurricanes Projected Lines
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Nikolaj Ehlers - Logan Stankoven - Jackson Blake
William Carrier - Jordan Staal - Jordan Martinook
Taylor Hall - Mark Jankowski - Eric Robinson
Defense:
Shayne Gostisbehere - Sean Walker
K'Andre Miller - Joel Nystrom
Alexander Nikishin - Mike Reilly
Starting Goaltender: Frederik Andersen
Scratched: Bradley Nadeau, Brandon Bussi, Domenick Fensore.
Injured: Charles Alexis Legault (upper-body), Jalen Chatfield (upper-body), Jaccob Slavin (lower-body), Jesper Kotkaniemi (lower-body).
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on TNT, HBO MAX, truTV, TVAS. Alex Faust will be on the play-by-play with Jennifer Botterill and Colby Armstrong as the color analysts. The radio broadcast will be on KFAN FM 100.3 with Joe O'Donnell behind the mic doing the play-by-play. Tom Reid as the color analyst and Kevin Falness as the Studio Host.
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