Minnesota Wild Notes:
SERIES NOTES vs MONTREAL CANADIENS
All-Time Wild Record: 19-7-3 (11-2-1 at Xcel Energy Center, 8-5-2 at Montreal)
2022-23: Minnesota went 2-0-0 against Montreal…The Wild recorded a 3-1 victory in the first meeting at Bell Centre (Oct. 25) and a 4-1 win at Xcel Energy Center in the second contest (11/1)…C Joel Eriksson Ek led Minnesota with four points (2-2=4)…RW Brandon Duhaime (1-1=2), LW Kirill Kaprizov (2-0=2) and LW Matt Boldy (1-1=2) had two points each…G Marc-Andre Fleury went 2-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .968 SV%…D Chris Wideman led Montreal with two points (0-2=2)…RW Cole Caufield and C Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal…G Jake Allen went 0-2-0 with a 2.53 GAA and a .917 SV%.
WILD LEADERS: LW Marcus Johansson leads Minnesota with 22 points (5-17=22) in 30 games vs. Montreal…D Alex Goligoski has 17 points (4- 13=17) in 25 contests LW Marcus Foligno owns 14 points (7-7=14) in 30 games…RW Mats Zuccarello (2-7=9, in 25 games) and D Jared Spurgeon (4-5=9, in 19 games) each have nine points.
WILD GOALIES: Fluery is 26-13-6 with a 2.93 GAA, a .903 SV% and two shutouts in 46 career starts vs. Montreal…G Filip Gustavsson is 0-2-1 with a 3.95 GAA and a .855 SV% in three starts against the Canadiens.
CANADIENS LEADERS: C Sean Monahan leads Montreal with 12 points (5-7=12) in 25 games against Minnesota…RW Brendan Gallagher owns eight points (5-3=8) in 14 games…C Christian Dvorak has eight points (2-6=8) in 22 matches.
CANADIENS GOALIES: Allen is 8-6-2 with a 2.59 GAA and a .907 SV% in 20 games (17 starts) vs. Minnesota…G Sam Montembeault is 1-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and a .926 SV% in one career start vs. the Wild (3/8/19)…G Cayden Primau is 0-1-0 with a 7.50 GAA and a .844 SV% in one career start vs. Minnesota (1/24/22).
FAST FACTS: Minnesota is 14-1-0 in its last 15 games vs. the Canadiens, and have won the last five meetings (10/20/19-11/1/22)…The Wild recorded a nine-game win streak against Montreal (12/3/14-1/7/19), outscoring the Canadiens, 36-10…The nine-game win streak is tied for the second-longest winning streak vs. an opponent…Minnesota has won the last eight games played at Xcel Energy Center (11/1/13-1/24/22), its second-longest active home win streak against an opponent.
INJURIES
Jared Spurgeon: upper body
TEAM NOTES
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
- Minnesota recorded an 11-game road point streak (8-0-3) from 2/23/23 to 3/29/23, third-longest in franchise history and third-longest in the NHL during the 2022-23 season. • From Feb. 23 through the end of the 2022-23 season, the Wild was first in the NHL with a .927 road SV% and was third with a 2.53 road GAA.
ON THE POWER PLAY
- Minnesota set the single-season franchise record for power-play percentage (21.4 pct), converting 54 for 252 power-play opportunities during the 2022-23 campaign. • The Wild converted 26.2 percent (33 of 126) of power-play opportunities at home this season, sixth-best in the NHL last season.
PENALTY KILLERS
- The Wild recorded a streak of 27 consecutive successful penalty kills across 14 total games from 2/6/23 to 3/2/23. Did not allow a powerplay goal in 12 consecutive games from 2/8/23 – 2/28/23, 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). • Allowed 20 opposing power-play goals on 118 opportunities (83.1 pct.) at home during the 2022-23 season, the seventh-best rate in the NHL.
SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
- Minnesota ranked third in the NHL with 14 shorthanded goals (SHG) during the 2022-23 season. • The Wild scored its 14th SHG of the season at CHI (4/10), breaking the franchise’s previous single-season record set in the 2000-01 season. • Minnesota recorded two SHG in a single game twice a 10-day span (3/29 at COL, 4/8 vs. STL) after doing so only three times previously in franchise history. • The Wild scored two SHG in a 20-second span (11:17, 11:37 in the first period) vs. STL (4/8), marking the franchise’s first time scoring multiple shorthanded goals in a 20-second span. The last NHL team to do so was Boston on 4/10/10 (15 second differential).
COOL UNDER PRESSURE
- Minnesota went 42-7-8 (.807) last season when obtaining a lead at any point in the game, the seventh-best point percentage in the NHL in such situations. • The Wild was 31-0-3 (.956) last season when leading through two periods, the third-best point percentage in the NHL. • Minnesota was 15-1-11 (.759) last season in games that became tied with less than five minutes left in regulation, tied for the fifth-most victories in the NHL.
LOCK-DOWN DEFENSE
- Minnesota conceded less than two goals in 27 games during the 2022- 23 season, second-most the NHL. The Wild holds a 24-1-2 record when allowing less than two goals. • In 56 games from Dec. 10 through the end of the season, the Wild posted a 2.43 GA/Gm average, the second-best mark in the NHL during that span.
Montreal Canadiens Notes:
No team notes available.
