Wild at Coyotes
The Minnesota Wild are surging up the Central Division standings, ripping off five consecutive wins and earning points in 10 of their last 11 games (8-1-2). One of the losses in that stretch was an overtime setback against league-worst Arizona on Feb. 8, a defeat the Wild will attempt to avenge when they visit the Coyotes on Thursday night.
Minnesota made it five wins in a row with an 8-3 rout of St. Louis, matching a franchise record for goals behind the line of Eric Staal, Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker, who combined for a staggering 14 points. "It's hard to really explain," Staal said. "We just want to keep it. When you have that going, you want to bottle it and keep it going as long as you can." The Wild have outscored the opponents 24-11 during their winning streak and have a seven-game point streak at Arizona (6-0-1), which had won five of six prior to Sunday's 3-1 home loss to Vancouver. The Coyotes rank 27th in goals allowed (3.2) but have yielded a total of four in the past five wins, including a pair of shutouts.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), FS Arizona
ABOUT THE WILD (36-20-7): Staal is the league's reigning First Star of the Week and could be on his way to a repeat after registering a hat trick as part of a five-point night against St. Louis to give him seven goals during a four-game streak. "If he was playing in Toronto, he'd be up for the MVP," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said of Staal, who has 13 goals in the last 13 games, including one against Arizona on Feb. 8. Zucker also collected five points against St. Louis to establish a career best with 51.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (18-34-10): General manager John Chayka did not make any moves of consequence at the trade deadline, although he said it was not for a lack of trying. "I tried to be proactive ... to get something done," Chayka said. "Really what it came down to is this group has shown a lot of progress and we wanted to allow them to continue to grow." Former Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 21, lost his debut with the Coyotes after giving up two goals in under 2 1/2 minutes in the third.
OVERTIME
1. Wild G Devan Dubnyk, acquired from Arizona during the 2014-15 season, is 5-6-4 against the Coyotes.
2. Coyotes C Nick Cousins scored twice at Minnesota on Feb. 8 but has been held off the scoresheet in five straight games.
3. Zucker has four goals and four assists in the past three games.