Gameday preview: Wild hosts expansion Vegas Knights
November 30, 2017 at 3:14AM
First game vs. expansion Knights
Preview: The Wild get their first look at the expansion Golden Knights, who had a five-game winning streak ended Tuesday in a 3-0 loss to Dallas. How surprising has Vegas (15-7-1) been? Consider that the Wild won just 25 games as an expansion team in 2000-01, and the Washington Capitals went 8-67-5 as an expansion team in 1974-75.
Players to watch: Former Columbus F William Karlsson leads the Knights with 13 goals, followed by former Nashville F James Neal with 12. Vegas took F Erik Haula from the Wild in the expansion draft. Haula has 13 points in 19 games. The Wild traded F Alex Tuch to Vegas for a conditional third-round pick, and Tuch has 10 points. Former Gophers D Nate Schmidt went from Washington to Vegas in the expansion draft.
Numbers: Vegas entered Wednesday ranked third in the NHL in goals scored per game (3.52) and 14th in goals allowed (2.96). … Las Vegas native Jason Zucker has 10 goals and 13 points in his past 12 games for the Wild. … The Wild is 3-0-1 in its past four home games, with the power play going 5-for-12 and the penalty kill going 10-for-10 in that stretch.
Injuries: Wild F Zach Parise (back surgery) and D Jared Spurgeon (groin) are out. Knights G Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion), D Clayton Stoner (abdominal), D Luca Sbisa (lower body) are out. F David Perron, William Carrier (upper body) are questionable.
Joe Christensen
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With the playoffs a month away, the Wild is starting to play in tight contests because goals are hard to come by.
