MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES
GAME BROADCASTS
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
All-Time Wild Record: 11-9-8 (6-4-4 at Xcel Energy Center, 5-5-4 at New Jersey)
2022-23: Minnesota won the series-opening game, 3-2, in a shootout at Xcel Energy Center (2/11)…C Joel Eriksson Ek (1-0=1) and C Ryan Hartman (1-0=1) scored goals for the Wild…RW Mats Zuccarello netted the winning shootout goal…G Filip Gustavsson saved 27-of-29 shots against for Minnesota…LW Tomas Tatar led New Jersey with two goals (2-0=2)…G Vitek Vanecek stopped 22-of-24 shots against for the Devils.
WILD LEADERS: Zuccarello leads Minnesota with 23 points (6-17=23) in 31 contests against the Devils…D Alex Goligoski has 14 points (4-10=14) in 32 games…D Jared Spurgeon owns 11 points (3-8=11) in 14 matches.
WILD GOALIES: G Marc Andre-Fleury is 24-25-5 with a 2.46 GAA, a .915 SV% and six shutouts in 54 career starts against New Jersey…Gustavsson is 1-0-0 with a 1.85 GAA and a .931 SV% in one start.
DEVILS LEADERS: RW Timo Meier leads New Jersey with 12 points (4-8=12) in 24 games against Minnesota…Tatar owns 10 points (7-3=8) in 18 contests…D Brendan Smith has seven points (2-5=7) in 14 games.
DEVILS GOALIES: G Akira Schmid has not faced the Wild….Vanecek is 0-1-1 with a 2.90 GAA and a .857 SV% in two starts.
FAST FACTS: Minnesota is 10-4-4 in its last 18 games against New Jersey, including an active eight-game point streak (6-0-2)…The Wild is 4-0-0 in the last four meetings at the Devils.
INJURIES
Marcus Foligno: lower body
Kirill Kaprizov: lower body
Gustav Nyquist: upper body
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Minnesota owns an active eight-game road point streak (6-0-2), fourth-longest in franchise history.
• Since Feb. 23, the Wild ranks first in the NHL with a 2.13 road GAA and second with a .932 road SV% (min. three road games).
ON THE POWER PLAY
• The Wild has converted 26.1 percent (29 of 111) of power-play opportunities at home this season, seventh-best in the NHL.
• Since Jan. 19, Minnesota ranks tied for third in the NHL with 18 powerplay goals.
PENALTY KILLERS
• Recorded a streak of 27 consecutive successful penalty kills across 14 total games snapped from 2/6 to 3/2. Did not allow a power-play goal in 12 consecutive games from 2/8 – 2/28, the longest streak in the NHL this season, tied for the longest streak in franchise history and tied for the 13th-longest streak in the NHL’s Expansion Era (since 1967-68 season).
SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
• Minnesota is tied for fifth in the NHL with nine shorthanded goals this season.
• The total is tied for the third-highest in franchise history through a season’s first 70 games (11 goals in 2000-01, 01-02 seasons; nine goals in 2002-03, 06-07 seasons).
• Minnesota has not eclipsed nine shorthanded goals in season since recording doing so during the 2008-09 campaign.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS NOTES:
Last Game:
New Jersey Devils 5 Tampa Bay Lightning 2
(45-18-7 – 97 PTS) (42-23-6 – 90 PTS)
Three Stars: 1. J. Bratt 2. N. Hischier 3. N Kucherov
SCORE 1ST 2ND 3RD OT SO FINAL
Tampa 1 1 0 – – 2
DEVILS 0 3 2 – – 5
Goals:
TBL: N. Kucherov, A. Killorn
NJD: J. Bratt, J. Bratt, N. Hischier, N. Foote, J. Bratt (ENG)
INJURIES/ILLNESS
PLAYER INJURY OUT SINCE GAMES MISSED
Jonathan Bernier – LTIR Lower-body, hip 2021-22 70
Mackenzie Blackwood I.R. Lower-body 2/21/23 14
Nate Bastian Upper-body 3/13/23 4
Curtis Lazar Undisclosed 3/19/23 1
2022-23 Total Man-Games Lost to Injury/illness: 190
WHAT TO KNOW
After Sunday night’s win at Tampa, the Devils concluded their 2022-23 regular-season series against Tampa and logged a 1-1-1 record vs the Bolts. The last time that the Devils won a regular-season series vs Tampa was 2017-18 (3-0-0). Jersey’s team also snapped a three-game winless streak (0-2-1), after Sunday night’s 5-2 win at Tampa. The Devils enter Tuesday’s contest six wins shy of tying the franchise record (51) for the most wins in a single season, which was earned in 2008-09. The last time that the Devils earned more than 45 wins in a season was in 2011-12 (48-28-6). The team earned more than 45 wins in a season 11 times for franchise history. Jersey’s team also concluded its 10th back-to-back set for 2022-23 and improved to 8-2-0 in second half games played. Overall, Jersey’s team is 13-6-1 for back-to-back sets this season, while the team’s .675 points% for back-to-back sets is tied with Nashville for the furth highest in the NHL, per March 20. Boston’s .818 points% ranked first in the NLH for this matter. The Devils enter Tuesday’s contest with 19 homes wins (19-13-3), which are the most wins at home since 2018-19 when the team posted a 20-14-7 record at the Rock. The last time that the Devils earned more than 20 home wins in a season was in 2017-18 (23-14-4). The most home wins that Jersey can earn this season is 25. The most home wins in franchise history is 29, which was logged twice: 1997-98 (29-10-2) and 1993-94 (29-11-2). The Devils magic number to reach the playoffs is six points – 103 PTS in the standings
MARCH MADNESS
The Devils’ schedule for March entails 16 games, which marks the most contests that the team plays in a single month this season. The second most games played in a single month this season was 14 in November, after the team posted a 13-1-0 record. New Jersey’s schedule entails six more games vs Divisional opponents, while the next MET contest is on Mon. Mar. 27, at NYI.
VS CONFERENCE/DIVISION
The Devils are 21-4-4 vs the Western Conference this season. The franchise record for most wins vs the Western Conference was 18, which was logged in 2000-01. Jersey’s team is 7-4-2 vs the Central Division this season. The Devils enter Sunday’s contest with a 24-14-3 record vs the Eastern Conference.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
Overall: 13-6-1
First game: 5-4-1 | home: 0-1-0 | road: 5-3-1
Second game: 8-2-0 | home: 3-2-0 | road: 5-0-0
STATS EXPANDED
The Devils are 25-9-1 when scoring first in a game this season and 20-9-6 when trailing first in a contest. New Jersey’s 20 wins when trailing first in a game this season ranks first in the NHL, per March 20, while Boston (18-10-2) ranked second. The Devils are 29-1-2 when leading after the second period this season, while Boston ranks first in the NHL for this matter with a 38-1-2 record. The Devils are 15-4-2 when outshot by an opponent this season and 29-14-5 when outshooting teams. The team’s four regulation losses when outshot are tied with Calgary and the NY Rangers for the third fewest in the NHL. The Devils are 1-0-0 when shots are even vs an opponent for 2022-23. The Devils have allowed 1, or fewer, goals against 15 times this season in a game. Jersey’s team allowed one, or fewer goals against, in a game just eight times all of last season.
VS MINNESOTA
The Devils conclude their 2022-23 regular-season series vs Minnesota and host the Wild for the first time this season. Jersey’s team was 0-1-1 vs Minnesota last season. The last time that the Devils defeated Minnesota was on Feb. 15, 2019, in a 5-4 win at Minnesota. The last time that the Devils defeated ‘Sota at home was on Oct. 22, 2016, in 2-1 win. The last time that the Devils earned a season series win vs ‘Sota was in 2016-17 (2-0-0).
ALL-TIME vs MINNESOTA
Record: 15-9-2-2
Home: 8-4-1-1
Road: 7-5-1-1
DID YOU KNOW…
The most goals in franchise history earned in a single game vs Minnesota was seven, which was earned in a 7-4 win at the Rock on Mar. 17, 2016. The most goals that the Devils allowed in a single game vs Minnesota was six, after a 6-2 loss on Mar. 10, 2015, at Minnesota. The most shots that Jersey earned in a single game vs the Wild is 42, which was earned on Nov. 24, 2021, in a 3-2 shootout loss. The most shots that the Devils allowed in a single game vs the Wild is 39, which was logged on Dec. 3, 2005, in a 3-2 shootout win at the Prudential Center. The matchup marked the first-ever shootout round on home ice for New Jersey. The Devils shut out the Wild once, which was logged on Mar. 20, 2009, in a 4-0 win at the Rock. Minnesota shut out the Devils once, which was recorded on Nov. 3, 2013, in a 4-0 loss for Jersey at Xcel Energy Center.
LAST TRADE
The last time that the Devils and Minnesota executed a trade was on Jan. 30, 2019, when the team traded Michael Kapla in exchange for defenseman Ryan Murray.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE .
Fri. Mar. 24, at BUF, 7:00 P.M.
Sat. Mar. 25, vs OTT, 7:00 P.M.
Mon. Mar. 27, at NYI, 7:30 P.M.
Thu. Mar. 30, vs NYR, 7:00 P.M.
Sun. Apr. 2, at WPG, 7:00 P.M. E.T.
