7 p.m. vs. Florida, Xcel Energy Center.
Wild gameday: Andrew Brunette returns to Minnesota as coach of red-hot Panthers
The Panthers are the NHL's highest-scoring team entering Friday's game at Xcel Energy Center.
February 17, 2022 at 11:08PM
No TV. Stream: ESPN-Plus and Hulu. Radio: 100.3-FM
Wild update: The Wild (30-12-3, 63 points) returns home to face Atlantic Division-leading Florida before embarking on a four-game Canadian trip. This game originally was scheduled to be played Dec. 18 in St. Paul but was postponed because of COVID-19 issues with the Panthers. ... The teams met on Nov. 20 in Florida, with the Panthers winning 5-4. C Joel Eriksson Ek and LW Kirill Kaprizov each had a goal and an assist, and LW Marcus Foligno and RW Ryan Hartman also scored for Minnesota. … The Wild is coming off a 6-3 loss at Winnipeg on Wednesday. Eriksson Ek, RW Mats Zuccarello and D Dmitry Kulikov scored for the Wild, and Kaprizov had two assists for his 17th multipoint game of the season. Kaprizov leads the Wild with 22 goals and 27 assists and has 19 points (8-11-19) in the past 12 games. Zuccarello also had an assist, giving him 15 multipoint games this season and nine in the past 12 games. … Coach Dean Evason has been alternating goalie starts between Cam Talbot, who played Wednesday, and Kaapo Kahkonen, who played Monday. … D Matt Dumba (lower body) and C Nick Bjugstad (finger surgery) are out.
Panthers update: Florida (33-10-5, 71 points) played its first game since Feb. 1 on Wednesday and beat Carolina 3-2 on D Aaron Ekblad's goal 16 seconds into overtime after C Sam Reinhart tied the score with 49 seconds left in the third period. The Panthers have won five of their past six games and are 26-10-5 since former Wild forward Andrew Brunette was named interim coach after Joel Quenneville resigned in the wake of the Chicago Blackhawks sexual abuse scandal. … The Panthers are averaging a league-best 4.06 goals per game, getting balanced scoring from C Aleksander Barkov (22 goals), C Sam Bennett (21), LW Anthony Duclair (19), LW Jonathan Huberdeau (17) and Reinhart (17). ... G Sergei Bobrovsky has started 33 games, going 24-4-3 with a 2.54 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. … C Frank Vatrano had two goals and an assist in the Panthers' victory over the Wild in November. … RW Patric Hornqvist (upper body) returned to action Wednesday after an eight-game absence. C Noel Acciari (pectoral) and C Maxim Mamin (undisclosed) returned to practice but did not play Wednesday.
The Wild have been the surprise of the league as their high-scoring winger makes a shambles of team scoring records.
