The Minnesota Wild roll into Los Angeles on Tuesday night, the first of three straight games away from the Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild are coming off a depressing loss to the Seattle Kraken at home and look to begin the road trip out west on a positive note. The Wild sit at 5-5-1 and the Kings at 7-6-1, which includes a 7-6 win in St. Paul on Oct. 15.
The Wild welcome back Jordan Greenway into the lineup and he is slotted into the second-line wing spot with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy.
Matt Dumba has also been reunited with his old pal Jonas Brodin on the second defensive pairing. Joseph Cramarossa draws into the Wild lineup after having been recalled from Iowa. He’ll look to make some noise on the fourth line with Sam Steel and Tyson Jost.
Marcus Foligno is out for the Kings game but he is scheduled to make his return during the road trip.
#mnwild lines
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 7, 2022
Kaprizov-Gaudreau-Zuccarello
Greenway-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Dewar-Rossi-Shaw
Jost-Steel-Cramarossa
Beckman-Foligno (may travel) not on regular line
Middleton-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba (reunited)
Merrill-Addison
Goligoski extra
Players to Watch:
In the last five games, the Wild have been led by who else?
Kirill Kaprizov has four goals in that stretch and Eriksson Ek takes the cake with six points. They both look to lead an electric Wild power play. Mats Zuccarello leads the team with seven assists, and is only behind Kaprizov with 12 points.
Kaprizov seemingly enjoys playing against the Kings. Hopefully, they remember him this time. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty infamously was quoted for saying he did not know who Kaprizov was when asked in an interview. Kaprizov then skated him out of his pads in the next game.
For the Kings, it’s a bit of a surprise that the leading scorer is Gabriel Vilardi. The young forward is showing out this year.
He leads the team in goals and is tied for the team lead with 14 points. Do you know who else is leading the team in assists and is tied for the team lead in points? I’ll give you one guess. Yep, it’s Kevin Fiala who is off to a great start since being traded from the Wild this summer.
If I was a betting feller I’d put money on Fiala finding the score sheet at some point tonight.
This should be a fun one to watch and it’ll be worth staying up for.
Get the coffee pouring and tune into this Western Conference clash at 9:30 pm central time.
Prediction:
4-3 Wild