Rangers at Wild
The Minnesota Wild lost their hold of first place in the Central Division during a disappointing road trip and return home for another tough test against the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Wild trail Chicago by three points heading into the weekend after losing five of six - including the 1-4-0 trek - and scored as many goals in the five losses as in their 7-4 win at Florida.
“Some nights one thing is going well and we’re missing a part somewhere else, so it’s costing us games,” Minnesota forward Zach Parise told the Star Tribune. “But luckily, we’ve got some points early in the season where we’ve got room to turn it around and figure it out before the playoffs.” The Wild won’t have it any easier with six games in a nine-day stretch that starts with a battle against the Rangers, who have won six of seven on the road and own the league’s best record away from home (25-9-0). New York is coming off a 4-3 shootout loss at home against Florida - its third setback in four games (1-2-1) - in which it coughed up a two-goal lead after the first period. The Rangers still are battling for one of the top three spots in the Metropolitan Division, as they sit five points behind third-place Columbus and seven behind Washington for the top spot.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, MSG (New York), FSN Wisconsin, FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (44-24-3): Mats Zuccarello snapped a 12-game goal-scoring drought Friday with a pair of tallies and has recorded five points in his last five contests to give him 50 for the third time in four seasons. J.T. Miller also scored against Florida to reach 20 goals for the second straight campaign and maintain the lead in points (51) for the well-balanced Rangers. Jesper Fast returned to the lineup Friday after missing seven games with a shoulder injury and fellow forward Pavel Buchnevich (eight goals) was scratched.
ABOUT THE WILD (43-20-6): Leading scorer Mikael Granlund (65 points) hasn’t slowed down, posting three goals and an assist during a four-game point streak while Eric Staal has scored four goals in his last four contests. Some of Minnesota’s offensive problems can be attributed to a stale power play which has converted just two times in 25 chances over an eight-game span. Recently acquired forward Martin Hanzal has missed the last three games due to illness and his status for the weekend, which includes a game at Winnipeg on Sunday, is uncertain.
OVERTIME
1. The Wild took the first of two meetings this season, posting a 7-4 victory in New York on Dec. 23 behind a four-point effort by C Charlie Coyle.
2. The Rangers are 5-for-12 with the man advantage over their last four games but have surrendered six power-play tallies over the last five contests.
3. Minnesota G Devan Dubnyk is second in the league with 36 wins but has recorded just one in his last five decisions.