Minnesota @ Winnipeg preview
Canada Life Centre
Last Meeting ( Feb 8, 2022 ) Minnesota 0, Winnipeg 2
Eight days after a feisty affair, the Minnesota Wild will look to keep rolling Wednesday night when they visit the Winnipeg Jets again.
The two clubs met Feb. 8 in Winnipeg, with the Jets winning 2-0 in a game that featured multiple fighting majors on both sides. Wild forward Marcus Foligno was handed a two-game suspension for kneeing the Jets' Adam Lowry in the head while the latter was down on the ice in one of their two altercations that night. Foligno will make his return for the rematch.
Last week's loss is the only one in the past nine games for Minnesota and only its third since Jan. 1. The Wild are 11-2-1 in 2022.
Their most recent triumph came Monday, 7-4 against the Detroit Red Wings. Rookie winger Matt Boldy delivered his first career hat trick and now has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 13 games this season.
"You definitely soak it in as much as you can, but you don't want to make too much of it," Boldy said. "Just kind of build off each night and ... hopefully just bring that into Wednesday against Winnipeg and kind of use that to build confidence and keep playing well."
While star forward Kirill Kaprizov is leading the way offensively with 22 goals and 57 points, Minnesota has been getting contributions from throughout its lineup. Frederick Gaudreau is one of those contributors, with eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past seven games.
"It's scary the depth that I think that we have," forward Jordan Greenway said. "We can rely on everyone for different things, whether it's getting on the score sheet or locking down another line, whatever the case is. We can rely on pretty much everyone, so that's definitely a good feeling, and it's going to be good for us going down the stretch for sure."
The Jets are looking for some consistency after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. The loss snapped a three-game point streak (2-0-1), the team's first such stretch since it earned points in three straight games bookending the Christmas break from Dec. 19-Jan. 4.
Winnipeg is 3-2-1 in its past six games, alternating wins and losses during that stretch.
"You look at the games that we've played; (Monday) was different," Jets interim coach Dave Lowry said. "This one didn't have the physical component, and we've got to go find that. To me, that's putting pucks into areas. We've got some guys that know that's part of their responsibility."
Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele is riding a four-game goal streak and has seven points during that stretch.
Defenseman Neal Pionk missed the game Monday due to Canada's COVID-19 protocol regulations, as it had been only nine days since his positive test. Canada requires travelers to be 10 days removed from a positive test before being eligible to enter the country. He is expected back to play the Wild.
--Field Level Media