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Minnesota Wild: Top 5 Games to See Live This Season

By Cody Defoe

SAINT PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 8: The outside view of Xcel Energy Center prior to game between the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 8, 2011 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild won 4-2. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
SAINT PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 8: The outside view of Xcel Energy Center prior to game between the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 8, 2011 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild won 4-2. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Wild
ST. PAUL, MN – DECEMBER 14: (L-R) Nino Niederreiter #22 and Mikael Granlund #64 of the Minnesota Wild celebrate after scoring a goal against Nikita Zaitsev #22 and the Toronto Maple Leafs during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on December 14, 2017 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

December 1, 2018 vs Toronto Maple Leafs

The top story of the NHL this summer has been the free agent status, and subsequent signing, of John Tavares. The Toronto Maple Leafs feel like they won the lottery and have already started talking Stanley Cup Celebration.

The Minnesota Wild will open the month of December hosting the Leafs at Xcel Energy Center, as Tavares and Auston Matthews will look to leave their stamp on a Wild team with Stanley Cup aspirations of our own.

Both are weapons, and could potentially be thorns in the Wild’s side, but it is also another opportunity for the Minnesota Wild and Bruce Boudreau to prove their place in the playoff discussion.

Toronto lost their trip to Minnesota last year, being shutout by Alex Stalock in December. They will be looking to avenge that loss and assert their high scoring offense on a deep defensive Minnesota team.

Aside from Matthews and Tavares, Toronto boasts Mitch Marner, Nazem Kadri, and Zach Hyman as top offensive players. They will also be bringing the bought out former Minnesota Wild forward, Tyler Ennis, to town.

It will be Ennis’s first game back in Minnesota, and I would expect to hear a not so warm welcome from the Wild fans in attendance. He has looked good in the preseason, and we hope to not regret his buyout, but regardless we should expect him to be showered with boos whenever he is on the ice.

Toronto’s defense and goaltending are beatable, though Frederik Andersen can be a wall in net at times. They should pose a solid test, and would be a high-skill game regardless the outcome. If the people in the Toronto area are to be believed, this could be your 2019 Stanley Cup Champion. Might as well get a chance to see up-close what all the hype is about.

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