Wild at Rangers
Minnesota Wild coach Bruce Boudreau has one goal remaining as his team surges toward the Christmas break. After tying the franchise mark with nine straight wins, the red-hot Wild look to set the record outright on Friday when they visit the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
"Tying is like kissing your sister. Getting it is the nice thing. Our job's not done," Boudreau told the Minneapolis Star Tribune after the Wild matched the club's consecutive wins record from 2007 with a 4-2 triumph over Montreal on Thursday. While Devan Dubnyk extended his career-high win and points streak to eight and 12 games (10-0-2), respectively, with a 32-save performance, backup Darcy Kuemper likely will get the nod on Friday in the latter half of the back-to-back set. New York had also been hot with victories in six of its previous seven before sustaining a humbling loss in its last outing. Forward J.T. Miller didn't hold back in his assessment, saying the Rangers "didn't show up to play" and were "lazy" in Tuesday's 7-2 drubbing by Pittsburgh.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE WILD (20-8-4): Veteran Eric Staal extended his point streak to six games (five goals, three assists) by scoring his club high-tying 11th goal, which served as his team-best fifth game-winning tally. Fellow forward Mikael Granlund had two assists to up his point total to nine (two goals, seven assists) in his last eight games overall and has set up six goals in six career games versus the Rangers. Pesky Jason Zucker scored and set up a goal to increase his point total to 12 (five goals, seven assists) in his last 14 contests overall.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (23-11-1): Adam Clendening could play in his ninth game of the season on Friday, provided coach Alain Vigneault feels the need to add another defenseman to the mix after watching the Wild face off with the Canadiens. "I haven't made up my mind," Vigneault said of the 24-year-old Clendening. "On D, we've got one extra and we hadn't had a practice where we could work on our power play. I wanted to give (Clendening) a good look and check Minnesota's game (on Thursday)." Clendening, who has three assists and is a plus-4 this season, participated on the team's second power-play unit during Thursday's practice with New York going 0-for-10 with the man advantage in the previous five games.
OVERTIME
1. New York RW Michael Grabner has just two of his team-high 14 goals in December.
2. Minnesota F Zach Parise will miss his second straight game due to illness on Friday, Boudreau told reporters.
3. Miller collected a goal and an assist in his last meeting with the Wild, a 4-2 Rangers' win on Feb. 4.