Wild at Bruins
The Minnesota Wild are perfect at home but remain in search of their first victory on the road when they visit the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. It is the third stop of a four-game road trip for Minnesota, which was throttled by the New York Islanders on Sunday after losing an overtime decision at New Jersey 24 hours earlier.
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau did not hide his displeasure with the performance of backup netminder Darcy Kuemper in Sunday's 6-3 loss at the Islanders, using the term "stoppable pucks" in referring to two of the three goals allowed in a 3:08 span. “We plan on playing him a few more games than we’ve played him in the past, so sometimes we need that superb goaltending job,” Boudreau said. Boston is wrapping up a three-game homestand and is hoping to establish some consistency at TD Garden after going 17-18-6 last season on home ice. The Bruins are also facing a four-game road trip against four playoff contenders from last season, including all three who finished above them in the Atlantic Division.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE WILD (3-2-1): Boudreau juggled his lines for the matchup against the Islanders and the biggest beneficiary was Zach Parise, who notched his first two tallies of the season while registering a game-high 10 shots on goal. Parise also joined Phil Housley and Dave Christian at the only Minnesota-born players to reach 300 career goals. “Tonight it went in. That’s pretty much the only difference, really,” Parise told reporters. “They just crossed the red line tonight.”
ABOUT THE BRUINS (3-2-0): Boston is dealing with goaltending issues after starter Tuukka Rask missed Saturday's game and wasn't on the ice for Monday's practice due to an undisclosed injury. Matters became worse when backup Anton Khudobin exited Monday's practice with an apparent arm injury, leaving only one healthy netminder -- Malcolm Subban, who was called up from its Providence affiliate of the American Hockey League. Subban has one career start, allowing three goals in 31 minutes.
OVERTIME
1. Wild G Devan Dubnyk last lost all five career starts and owns a 5.20 goals-against average versus Boston.
2. Bruins F Brad Marchand is two points shy of 300 for his career.
3. Wild F Eric Staal, who has three goals, has 15 tallies and 34 points in 43 points against Boston.