Preview: The Wild's four-game road trip continues to Brooklyn, where the Wild completes its first back-to-back set of the season. The puck drop is 23 hours after the start of Saturday's opening faceoff in New Jersey. In the closing days of the Mike Yeo era, the Wild lost 5-3 Feb. 2 during its first trip to Brooklyn since the Isles moved from Long Island. Islanders players were highly critical of the Barclays Center ice after Friday's victory over Arizona, with former Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck calling it "unplayable."
Wild-N.Y. Islanders game preview
October 23, 2016 at 3:32AM
Players to watch: Wild G Darcy Kuemper will likely start. He won his first start of the season with 27 saves in a 6-3 win over Los Angeles. C Eric Staal leads the Wild with 23 goals and 44 points in 44 games in his career against the Islanders. LW Zach Parise has 18 goals and 42 points — his most against any NHL team — in 47 meetings with the Islanders, while RW Jason Pominville has 29 points in 33 games. Islanders C John Tavares is a three-time 30-goal scorer, and the Islanders are also led by Minnesotans Brock Nelson, Nick Leddy — who's expected to return from an injury — and Anders Lee.
Numbers: The Wild is 11-8-1 all-time vs. the Islanders and 5-5 in New York. … Clutterbuck collected 110 points and 1,457 hits in 346 games from 2007-13 with the Wild. … The Isles have killed 94.7 percent of opposing power plays but are only clicking at 7.1 percent on the power play.
Injuries: Wild D Jared Spurgeon (upper body) and C Erik Haula (foot) are questionable. Islanders D Ryan Pulock (foot), C Mikhail Grabovski (concussion) and LW Shane Prince (lower body) are out.
MICHAEL RUSSO
about the writer
The team stands third in the Central Division and must protect that position to make the playoffs and improve it to gain home-ice advantage.
