Wild at Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have won four consecutive home games and own a 6-0-1 mark at PPG Paints Arena heading into Thursday's tilt versus the visiting Minnesota Wild. The Penguins added to those marks with a 4-3 victory over Connor McDavid and Edmonton to begin a three-game homestand Tuesday, improving to 6-0-1 mark in their last seven contests overall.
Conor Sheary opened and closed the scoring to record his second two-goal performance of his career and has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his six games this season. "I can bounce him around on any line," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said of the 24-year-old Sheary. "He's a great two-way player, but he has great offensive instincts." Minnesota has seen its offense dry up over its last two games, as coach Bruce Boudreau's charges have been held to just one goal after outscoring the opposition 13-0 during three straight shutout victories. The Wild have been idle since a 1-0 setback at Colorado on Saturday, but the club will play three contests in four nights to conclude the four-game road trip.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), ROOT (Pittsburgh)
ABOUT THE WILD (6-4-1): Devan Dubnyk has stopped 147 of the last 150 shots he faced, but only has a 3-2-0 mark to show for it after yielding a third-period goal to Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog on Saturday. The 30-year-old netminder will face a sterner test against the potent offense of Pittsburgh (NHL sixth-best 3.08 goals per game), versus which he owns a 2-4-0 career mark with a 3.15 goals-against average. Dubnyk could be aided by Minnesota's strong penalty kill, which has thwarted 16 of 17 short-handed opportunities over the last seven contests.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (9-2-2): While captain Sidney Crosby (club-best eight goals) was held without a point for the first time this season on Tuesday, fellow former Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin scored his fifth goal in six games to increase his team-leading point total to 13. Both Crosby and Malkin have mauled Minnesota in their careers, with the former recording 15 points (including 11 assists) in 11 outings while the latter has 10 in eight contests. Phil Kessel (11), Patric Hornqvist (11) and Crosby (10) have also recorded double-digit points for the Penguins this season, with former Wild member Matt Cullen residing at nine (three goals, six assists).
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota C Eric Staal leads the team with four goals, all of them coming in wins this season.
2. Pittsburgh recalled gritty F Tom Sestito from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday while sending D Chad Rehwedel to the American Hockey League club.
3. Wild C Erik Haula returned to practice on Wednesday after missing the past seven games with a foot injury.