Back home after sweeping their Western Canada road trip last week, the Wild will finish off a home-and-home against the Flames on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center.
Filip Gustavsson in net, Oskar Sundqvist to make Wild debut vs. Flames
The Wild have won four in a row and are on a season-long nine-game point streak.
The Wild have won four in a row and are on a season-long nine-game point streak, their latest victory during an 8-0-1 run coming Saturday when they blanked Calgary 3-0.
Goalie Filip Gustavsson posted a 31-save shutout and will make a second straight start after he was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week on Monday; aside from shutting out the Flames, Gustavsson also won his other appearance last week and stopped 70 of 71 shots for a 0.48 goals-against average and .986 save percentage.
In front of their crease, the Wild will make only one lineup change from Saturday: Oskar Sundqvist will make his team debut after the Wild acquired him from Detroit on Friday for a fourth-round draft pick.
"Hopefully the transition goes quick, getting into the new style of play and stuff like that," Sundqvist said. "It shouldn't be too hard. Very excited to get going."
Since their loss to the Wild on Saturday, the Flames edged the Stars 5-4 on Monday.
"They're going to be excited and energized, and we have to do the exact same thing," coach Dean Evason said. "The desperation that their hockey club's going to have is the same as our hockey club is going to have and will have. We're in a desperate situation as well, so we have to be very aware of our start here tonight."
Projected lineup:
Kirill Kaprizov-Ryan Hartman-Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno-Frederick Gaudreau-Oskar Sundqvist
Mason Shaw-Connor Dewar-Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon
Alex Goligoski-Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill-John Klingberg
Filip Gustavsson
Key numbers:
1-1: Record vs. the Flames this season.
2: Goals or less given up by Gustavsson in 20 of his 27 starts.
18: One-goal wins for the Wild.
20: Points for the Wild since Feb. 11, which is tied for first in the NHL.
177: Hits by Marcus Foligno, which is the most on the team.
About the Flames:
After their win on Monday, the Flames are five points back of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They're 3-2-2 in the second half of a back-to-back. Winger Tyler Toffoli's game-winning goal vs. Dallas was the second latest go-ahead goal this season; he scored with seven seconds left in the third period. Toffoli leads Calgary in goals with 26. His 54 points are also tops on the team.
The star forward came back from a brief injury absence, and two goals from Frederick Gaudreau helped Minnesota to another road victory.