The Minnesota Wild are missing a handful of key players but keep finding ways to win.
“We have belief, and we know what we’re capable of,” Wild forward Matt Boldy said. “There’s never been a doubt in that.”
Minnesota will look to keep its forward momentum going against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn. It is the opener of a back-to-back set of home games this weekend for the Wild, who are looking for their third straight win.
In their most recent game, the Wild pulled away for a 5-2 win Thursday over the Dallas Stars. Minnesota won despite recent injuries that have sidelined four veteran forwards: Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi, Marcus Foligno and Vinnie Hinostroza.
The Wild also are missing defenseman Jake Middleton, who went on injured reserve this week after he was hurt in Monday’s 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken.
Minnesota coach John Hynes praised the rest of his team for keeping its composure despite all the recent line changes caused by injuries. He offered special recognition to Marcus Johansson, who has 11 goals and already has matched his total from each of the past two years.
“‘Jojo’ is having a great year,” Hynes said. “He’s always been a player that we valued, whether he was scoring or whether he wasn’t scoring. This year, he’s getting rewarded more than in my experiences with him the last couple years, but I don’t think his game has changed.
“He’s a smart player. He’s got some good offensive instincts.”
The Senators are coming off a 6-3 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Before that victory, the Senators had lost five of their previous six contests.
Senators forward Lars Eller sustained an upper-body injury in the win over Columbus and did not return. Ottawa also has been without Thomas Chabot because of an upper-body injury and Shane Pinto because of a lower-body injury.
Ottawa will look for another strong performance from its scoring line consisting of Dylan Cozens, Drake Batherson and David Perron. The group accounted for two goals in the first nine minutes against Columbus.
“We needed them,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “I thought that line was fantastic. It was good to see ‘DP’ back up there, and they had a real strong game.”
Green emphasized that Ottawa needed to maintain pressure on offense from all 12 forwards.
“It’s no secret that we need to be a four-line team and get scoring throughout our lineup,” he said.
The Wild will turn to either Filip Gustavsson or Jesper Wallstedt in net. Gustavsson is 9-8-3 with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage, and Wallstedt is 8-1-2 with a 1.95 GAA and a .936 save percentage.
Gustavsson has faced Ottawa four times and is 1-2-1 with a 2.71 GAA and a .925 save percentage in those contests. Wallstedt has never faced Ottawa.
The Senators likely will return to Linus Ullmark in net after he earned the victory at Columbus. He is 11-8-4 with a 3.05 GAA and an .877 save percentage on the season, and he is 5-2-1 with a 2.83 GAA and a .912 save percentage in eight career games against Minnesota.
–Field Level Media
