Wild at Golden Knights
The Minnesota Wild answered the bell in their last outing after getting knocked out by a team that was mired in a franchise-worst 12-game winless skid. The Wild bid to put up a strong fight on Monday when they open a three-game road trip versus the Vegas Golden Knights, who boast a sterling 16-4-3 mark at T-Mobile Arena this season.
Zach Parise answered a frustrating night in which he unleashed a franchise-record 11 shots on goal in Minnesota's 3-0 setback to Anaheim on Thursday by reaching the 20-goal plateau for the ninth time in 14 NHL seasons in Saturday's 2-1 victory against Columbus. "I don't know where the standings are going to shake out, but we're still right there in the mix regardless of how dark it's been at times the last little while, we're still right there," the 34-year-old Parise told reporters. While the Wild are keeping tabs on a wild-card spot, Vegas is riding a 10-2-2 run to reside one point behind second-place San Jose in the Pacific Division. Jonathan Marchessault (team-leading 17 goals) collected his second career hat trick in Saturday's 7-3 victory versus Pittsburgh after tallying twice in his previous 16 outings.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin, FS North (Minnesota), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Vegas)
ABOUT THE WILD (24-21-3): Devan Dubnyk, who owns a 2-0-1 mark with a 1.62 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in three meetings with Vegas, followed up a strong relief performance versus the Ducks by turning aside 19 shots on Saturday. The 32-year-old netminder made 41 saves and Charlie Coyle set up injured defenseman Matt Dumba's goal in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Golden Knights on Oct. 6. The 26-year-old Coyle has two goals and two assists in four career meetings versus Vegas, while Eric Staal (four goals, two assists) and defenseman Jonas Brodin (one goal, four assists) have also fared well in the series.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (29-17-4): Max Pacioretty scored in the first meeting against Minnesota this season to boost his career total to 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in 12 contests versus the club. The 30-year-old had a goal and an assist versus the Penguins on Saturday to give him three and four, respectively, in seven games this month. Marc-Andre Fleury defeated his former team and has yielded just 17 goals during his sizzling 7-2-0 run, but is just 3-8-0 with a 3.31 GAA and .890 SP in 11 starts versus the Wild.
OVERTIME
1. Vegas RW Alex Tuch, who is a former first-round pick of the Wild, has 12 (three goals, nine assists) of his club-best 38 points in the last 11 games.
2. Minnesota newcomers LW Pontus Aberg and C Victor Rask set up Parise's first-period goal on Saturday to notch their first points with the club since being traded earlier in the week from Anaheim and Carolina, respectively.
3. Golden Knights C Paul Stastny has 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists) in 63 career matches against the Wild.