1 p.m. vs. Carolina • Xcel Energy Center • FSN, 107.9 FM
Wild-Carolina gameday preview
November 16, 2019 at 12:54AM
Carolina brings playoff pedigree
Preview: Carolina (11-7-1) is the top wild card team in the Eastern Conference after advancing to the conference finals in 2018-19. The Hurricanes are seventh in the league in goals and sixth in power play percentage. … The Wild (7-11-1) entered Friday with the second-fewest points in the NHL.
Players to watch: Hurricanes D Dougie Hamilton (nine goals, 12 assists, 21 points) is among the league's top 20 scorers. Former Wild forwards Nino Niederreiter (2-5-7) and Erik Haula (8-3-11) skate for Carolina, which is captained by C Jordan Staal. His older brother,C Eric Staal (6-8-14), leads the Wild in scoring. Victor Rask, obtained in the Niederreiter trade, has one goal in 10 games.
Numbers: The Wild is 30th in the 31-team NHL in shots per game (28.6). … Hurricanes G Petr Mrazek (2.62, .904) is 33rd in the NHL in save percentage. Wild G Devan Dubnyk (3.30, .896) is 39th.
Injuries: Carolina, LW Jordan Martinook (abdominal surgery), Wild LW Marcus Foligno (lower body) and Wild D Greg Pateryn (core muscle surgery) are out.
Chris Miller
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Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov issued a reminder of how well they work together, and they are two-thirds of a line that could be made whole soon by the return of Joel Eriksson Ek.
