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Behind Enemy Lines: Nashville Predators vs. Minnesota Wild

By Nick Kieser |
ST PAUL, MN - MARCH 13: Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild and Tanner Jeannot #84 of the Nashville Predators compete for the puck in the first period of the game at Xcel Energy Center on March 13, 2022 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
ST PAUL, MN - MARCH 13: Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild and Tanner Jeannot #84 of the Nashville Predators compete for the puck in the first period of the game at Xcel Energy Center on March 13, 2022 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

After debuting the new reverse retro uniforms on Saturday the Nashville Predators are set to take on the Minnesota Wild tonight.

The story of Saturday night was Juuso Parssinen who impressed in his NHL debut. He scored his first career goal and led all forwards with 17:49 minutes of ice time.

Tonight marks the first of three meetings between the Central Division foes this season. Last season the Wild went 1-3 against the Predators. Their lone win came in overtime after leading Nashville 4-3 going into the third period.

The Wild are coming off a disappointing 3-2 shootout loss on Sunday to the San Jose Sharks after leading 2-0 with 16 minutes remaining in regulation.

Coming into Nashville the Wild own a 7-6-2 record and are 35-36-6 all-time against the Predators.

The Opposition

Kirill Kaprizov leads all Wild skaters with 17 points in 15 games this season. He has four points in four games against the Predators.

Kaprizov has four points in his last five games to get this season going. So far he has three multi-goal games.

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The Russian forward has been skating with former Predator Frederick Gaudreau and Mats Zuccarello. According to Money Puck Kaprizov has spent 104 minutes on this top line.

Surprisingly enough in 18 games against the Predators Zuccarello has one goal and nine assists. He scored his lone goal back in the Wild’s latest game against Nashville in April.

Back on defense for the Wild, it’s captain Jared Spurgeon who, aside from Calen Addison, leads all defenders in points. Spurgeon has five points in 15 games while Addison has eight assists in as many games.

Players like Matt Dumba and Ryan Hartman, another former Predator, have had underwhelming starts to the 22-23 campaign. Dumba has three points while Hartman has five.

Overall the Wild have maintained their composure through the first 15 games. Minnesota has the 9th-ranked powerplay scoring 12 goals on 50 opportunities.

The Wild’s penalty kill is ranked 10th ahead of their matchup against the Predators. They’ve allowed 9 powerplay goals this season.

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Minnesota is also the NHL’s second-most penalized team with 226 penalty minutes on 80 calls.

Likely in the starting crease tonight is the illustrious Marc-Andre Fleury. He’s 11-8-2 overall against Nashville with a 2.31 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.

This season Fleury is 6-3-1 and last started at Seattle last Friday picking up his first shutout of the season (72nd overall).

Next: What Are The Preds’ Playoff Chances?

Tonight’s game can be watched on Bally Sports South with Willy Daunic and Chris Mason on the call. Over the airwaves on 102.5 The Game Pete Weber is alongside Hal Gill.

Projected lineup via Daily Faceoff

Offense

Kaprizov – Gaudreau – Zuccarello

Foligno – Eriksson Ek – Boldy

Dewar – Rossi – Shaw

Beckman – Steel – Jost

Defense 

Middleton – Spurgeon

Brodin – Dumba

Merrill – Addison

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