Minnesota hits the road for seven games starting tonight in Vancouver

The winning streak is at five as the Minnesota Wild look to knock off the Vancouver Canucks on their home ice.

The Minnesota Wild is on fire right now, beating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 at home Saturday night. Playing at the Xcel Energy Center, the Wild are (5-0-2); away from home, they have struggled at times posting a (1-2-0) record.

This lengthy seven-game road trip should be a real test for this hockey club. They start in Vancouver tonight, then Edmonton tomorrow.

The rest of the road trip will include two stops in St. Louis and a West Coast tour of California to face the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. The journey ends Sunday, November 11th in St. Louis to face the St. Louis Blues. The 14-day road trip is the longest in franchise history.

It will be crucial to get some points on this trip as all seven games are against Western Conference opponents. Per usual, the Central Division is very close, so it will be necessary to take advantage of a struggling St. Louis Blues team with the Minnesota Wild playing twice there.

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According to dailyfaceoff.com, Devan Dubnyk will once again start against the Canucks. Dubnyk’s play has been spectacular this season; Saturday night, Dubnyk gave up only 2 goals on 32 shots versus the Colorado Avalanche.

LW Jordan Greenway stint with the Iowa Wild (AHL) was short-lived; he was recalled after only 2 games in Iowa. Greenway had a hat trick Saturday night against the Colorado Eagles.

Bruce Boudreau recorded his 100th win as Minnesota Wild coach on Saturday. He is the third Wild coach to do so, joining Jacques Lemaire and Mike Yeo.

Tonight will be the Minnesota Wild’s third set of back-to-back games beginning tonight in Vancouver and ending in Edmonton tomorrow night; expect Alex Stalock to get a chance in net tomorrow, and not just for overtime!

First periods are still a concern for the Wild; opponents have scored first in 7 out of the last 8 games.

Opponent: Vancouver Canucks

Injuries keep mounting for the Vancouver Canucks as the team now has 25 man-games lost this season; the Canucks were dominated entirely by the Penguins on Saturday night losing 5-0.

There is some good news coming out of Vancouver; C Elias Pettersson returned to the Canucks lineup Saturday, he missed the last 6 games due to a concussion.

Before his injury, Pettersson started his NHL career with (5-3=8) in 5 games. They have also managed to stay third in the Pacific Division with a record of (6-6-0) despite many injuries and having a very young lineup.

Puck Drop: 9:08 p.m. Central time
Radio: KFAN FM and affiliates
Watch: Fox Sports North; Fox Sports app
All-Time Record vs. Canucks: 38-35-15 (22-17-6 at Xcel Energy Center, 16-18-9 at Vancouver)
17-18: Wild went (1-1-1) vs. Canucks last season

Team Series Leaders:

Wild: Koivu leads Minnesota with 43 points (12-31=43) in 58 games against Vancouver.
Canucks: LW Loui Eriksson leads Vancouver with 36 points (16- 20=36) in 36 games against vs. Wild
Wild Goalies vs. Canucks: Dubnyk is 11-9-4 with a 2.49 GAA, .921 SV% and three shutouts in 26 games vs. the Canucks. Alex Stalock is 0-1-0 with a 1.99 GAA and a .929 SV% in two games.
Canucks Goalies vs. Wild: Markstrom is 1-1-0 with a 2.94 GAA and a .887 SV% in three games vs. the Wild. Nilsson is 1-3-0 with a 3.27 GAA, a .879 SV% and one shutout. G Thatcher Demko has not faced Minnesota.

Injuries:

Wild: C Matt Hendricks leg
Canucks: G Thatcher Demko concussion; C Jay Beagle fractured forearm; LW Sven Baertschi upper body; D Alex Edler lower body; G Anders Nilsson broken finger; D Chris Tanev hip

Minnesota will need to get off to a quick start tonight against an injury-depleted Canucks team. It should be a fun ride to watch as the WIld begin their most extended road trip in team history.

All stats courtesy of nhl.com and dailyfaceoff.com.