Minnesota Wild: Three game road trip begins tonight in Vancouver

The Minnesota Wild hopes to snap a three-game losing streak.

This Western Canada road trip could be a new start for the Minnesota Wild as they have lost six of their last nine games; on the road, they have done relatively well with a 6-6-0 record.

Minnesota beat Vancouver 6-2 on November 15th at the Xcel Energy. The Canucks were able to knock off the Wild 5-2 in their first meeting of the season in Vancouver on October 29th.

Eric Staal scored his 10th goal of the season on Saturday , he has five points (4-1=5) in his last five games. Mikael Granlund has been a key ingredient to Minnesota’s success, he has seven points (1-6=7) in his last five games.

Captain Mikko Koivu is quietly putting up points for the Wild, he’s tallied 10 points in the last nine games (2-8=10).

Minnesota continues a stretch of playing five games against Canadian teams. The five-game stretch began on Saturday against Toronto and will continue with matches against Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal.

Per Daily Faceoff, Devan Dubnyk will be the starting goaltender for the Minnesota Wild, Dubnyk has given up four goals in four consecutive games. He is 1-1-0 against the Canucks this season, overall Dubnyk is 9-8-2 with 2.72 GAA and a .895 SV%.

Minnesota Connections:

Vancouver RW Brock Boeser is a Burnsville, Minnesota native, he played his high school hockey at Burnsville High School.

Opponent: Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks lost 2-1 to the Stars on Saturday. Tonight is the fourth game of a five-game home-stand for the Canucks, Nashville will be in Vancouver December 6th to conclude the home-stand.

Injuries have been a problem for the Canucks; 117 man games have been lost this season.

Rookie sensation Elias Pettersson continues to play well for the Canucks – in the 23 games, he has played this season, Pettersson has 13 goals and nine assists (13-9=22). Bo Horvat leads the team in points with (12-13=25) in 29 games.

According to Daily Faceoff, Anders Nilsson will be the starting netminder for the Canucks, Nilsson is 3-5-0 this season with a 2.77 GAA and a .905 SV%.

The Rundown

Minnesota Wild (14-10-2) at Vancouver Canucks (11-15-3)
Puck Drop: 9:08 p.m. CT
Radio: KFAN FM and affiliates
Watch: Fox Sports North; Fox Sports app
All-Time Record vs. Canucks: 39-36-15 (23-17-6 at Xcel Energy Center, 16-19-9 at Vancouver)

Team Series Leaders:

Minnesota Wild: Mikko Koivu leads Minnesota with 46 points (13-33=46) in 60 games against Vancouver.
Vancouver Canucks: Loui Eriksson leads Vancouver with 36 points (16-20=36) in 38 games against Minnesota.
Wild Goalies vs. Canucks: Dubnyk is 12-10-4 with a 2.53 GAA, .919 SV% and three shutouts in 28 games against 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 2-1-0 with a 2.66 GAA and a .911 SV% in four games against the Wild. Anders Nilsson is 1-3-0 with a 3.27 GAA, a .879 SV% and one shutout.

Injuries:

Minnesota Wild: no injuries
Vancouver Canucks: Brandon Sutter (shoulder), Sven Baertschi (concussion)

There is no question that the Minnesota Wild can break this three-game losing skid as they face a Canucks goaltender in Anders Nilsson who has struggled this season. The Wild have played well  on the road, and they dominated the Canucks last time they played.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com and Daily Faceoff.