Wild vs. Devils: A pre-holiday visit to New Jersey
The Minnesota Wild end a three-game road trip on Wednesday with a pre-holiday trip to the Prudential Center.
Minnesota has dropped both previous games on the current trip against Florida and Tampa Bay but picked up a point with a furious late rally from a two-goal deficit to send the game against the Lightning into overtime.
Defenseman and team captain Jared Spurgeon will not play in the matchup against the New Jersey Devils, and will be sidelined at least through the weekend if not longer. Spurgeon sustained a lower-body injury against Florida this past Saturday and missed Sunday’s game.
“I guess (the status) is week-to-week and we’ll just wait and evaulate,” Wild coach Dean Evason said in a media-availability session on Tuesday afternoon. “We’ll get home and see our (doctors) and then we’ll get a good idea.”
Jordie Benn was inserted into lineup and had an assist against the Lightning in just his second game with the Wild this season.
“We really liked how Jordie Benn played the game the other night,” Evason said. “He played the game with the sense of urgency that we’ve asked him to play with, and that we know he can play with.
“We’ve talked about the depth in all areas and the blue line is one of them,” Evason said. “It’s nice to have that depth in all areas of our game.”
Minnesota is 3-0-2 over the last five matchups with New Jersey. It’s the first matchup between the teams in roughly two years — since a 3-2 Wild victory at the Prudential Center on Nov. 26, 2019.
The teams will meet again on Dec. 2 in St. Paul.
Lineups
Benn appears to be set to make a second-straight start for the Wild. There appears to be little change from Minnesota’s lineup on Sunday.
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Betting odds
The Wild vs. Devils odds on WynnBET has Minnesota as a 1.5 goal favorite on the road. The Wild are listed as -120 favorites on the moneyline, while New Jersey is the underdog at +110. The total goals is set at an over/under of six.
Upcoming Wild schedule
Friday, Nov. 26: Winnipeg, 2:30 p.m. CST
Sunday, Nov. 28: Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. CST
Tuesday, Nov. 30: Arizona, 7 p.m. CST