Maple Leafs at Wild
The Toronto Maple Leafs have made themselves at home on the road by winning nine of their first 10 contests away from Scotiabank Arena before falling short in each of their last two. The Maple Leafs hope to end that modest road skid when they begin a stretch of seven of their next eight games away from home on Saturday against the Minnesota Wild.
Auston Matthews returned from a 14-game absence due to a shoulder injury to score two goals and set up another in Toronto's 5-3 victory versus San Jose on Wednesday. The former top overall pick has recorded multi-point performances in eight of his 12 games this season with the Maple Leafs, who have won three in a row and 10 of their last 13. Minnesota, conversely, has cooled off with back-to-back losses and four in its last six heading into a tilt versus Toronto, against which it is 8-1-0 in its last nine meetings and 7-2-0 all-time in St. Paul, Minn. "It is the Maple Leafs, it's Hockey Night in Canada, most of us are Canadian," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "You want to put your best foot forward. A lot of your family and friends are watching and you don't want a clunker when they're watching."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC, Sportsnet1 (Toronto), FS North-Plus (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (18-8-0): John Tavares recorded his third multi-goal performance of the season by scoring twice in the first period against the Sharks to give him three goals and an assist during his three-game point streak. The recent spurt aside, the 28-year-old Tavares still has collected 18 of his 30 points on the road and has notched 12 (six goals, six assists) in 13 career matches with Minnesota. Linemate Mitch Marner set up a career high-tying three goals for the second straight contest and has eight of his NHL second-best 30 assists in his last three contests.
ABOUT THE WILD (14-9-2): Zach Parise extended his point streak to six games by scoring the ninth of his team-leading 12 goals in the last 13 contests during Thursday's 4-2 setback to Columbus. The Minneapolis native has recorded 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 32 career encounters versus Toronto while fellow forward Eric Staal had three assists in last season's series to boost his point total to 50 (23 goals, 27 assists) in 45 career matches with the Maple Leafs. While Devan Dubnyk owns a 5-2-1 career mark with one shutout in nine games against Toronto, St. Paul native Alex Stalock turned aside all 28 shots he faced in a 2-0 win over the Maple Leafs on Dec. 14.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota C Mikko Koivu has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his last eight games.
2. Toronto D Morgan Rielly has 11 assists in 13 contests against Western Conference opponents this season.
3. The Wild have scored a power-play goal in 11 of their last 15 games.