Wild vs. Blue Jackets game preview: broadcast information, injury report and forecast

vs. Columbus at Xcel Energy Center: 7 p.m. Saturday

TV; radio: BSN; 100.3 FM

Stats, odds and analytics: Tap here.

Pregame reading: La Velle E. Neal's column on the Wild goalies.

For the fans: The Wild are 6-0-1 in their last seven games vs. the Blue Jackets.

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Opening bell: The Wild are searching for more offense after a 7-3 glitch against Los Angeles and adjusted two of their lines at practice on Friday, flipping Pat Maroon and Sammy Walker. Maroon joins Marcus Johansson and Joel Eriksson Ek, who has a team-high four goals, while Walker is now with Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar. But the focus is on better defense, too: the Wild (2-2) are averaging four goals against per game.

Watch him: Wild LW Kirill Kaprizov has a goal in back-to-back games, and he's been dynamic vs. Columbus in his career. In just four matchups, Kaprizov has scored a whopping seven times, including a hat trick last season at Xcel Energy Center.

Injuries: Wild RW Matt Boldy (upper body), D Alex Goligoski (lower body) and D Jared Spurgeon (upper body); Blue Jackets RW Yegor Chinakhov (back) and G Daniil Tarasov (knee).

Forecast: The schedule sets the Wild up for a reset. Not only will the Blue Jackets be finishing off a back-to-back — they hosted Calgary on Friday night — but they've showed the growing pains expected of a rebuilding team; after a feel-good win over the New York Rangers, they were shut out by Detroit. The Wild have also been battling inconsistency, following up each of their wins with losses, but this is a chance to bank momentum ahead of a challenging week.

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