Few teams are worried about their players having tired legs after just two games of the season.
Then again, the Minnesota Wild have a schedule that features a particularly early challenge.
Less than 24 hours after the Wild skated in 60 minutes of regulation, five minutes of overtime and a shootout round in a 5-4 loss against the Seattle Kraken, they will hit the road to face the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
The contest will kick off a seven-game road trip for Minnesota, which went 1-0-1 at home in its first two games. The Wild led 4-3 late in the third period Saturday before the Kraken scored the game-tying goal on a Jared McCann slap shot with 3:26 remaining and eventually earned the win in the shootout round.
Wild forward Marcus Foligno said he and his teammates should not feel dejected.
“You can’t be disappointed with our effort,” Foligno said. “It’s disappointing to lose that extra point. You want to be a team that closes out games. But for the most part, if we bring that game to Winnipeg (on Sunday), it’s going to be another positive outcome hopefully.”
The Jets are looking for their third straight win to start the season. They blew out the Oilers 6-0 in their season opener, then rallied for a 2-1 overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Mark Scheifele scored both goals for the Jets in their win over Chicago. In doing so, he also became the second player to score 300-plus goals for the franchise that started as the Atlanta Thrashers before moving to Winnipeg and adopting the old Jets moniker.
The only other player to do so was Ilya Kovalchuk, who scored 328 goals for the franchise.
“It’s pretty humbling to think about,” Scheifele said. “It’s pretty wild. I’m very thankful for the guys that I’ve played with. I’m lucky enough to play with some really good players. It’s all thanks to them.”
The Wild are expected to start Filip Gustavsson in net to try to slow down Scheifele and his teammates. Gustavsson earned the win in the Wild’s season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets and turned aside 31 of 33 shots, and he watched from the bench Saturday as veteran teammate Marc-Andre Fleury made the start against Seattle.
Gustavsson has faced the Jets five times in his career. He is 4-1-0 in those contests with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage.
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to start in goal for Winnipeg. He is 2-0-0 with a 0.50 GAA and a .982 save percentage on the season, during which he has made 55 saves on 56 shots.
Hellebuyck is 12-10-2 against the Wild in his career. He has a 2.71 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
The Wild could be without veteran forward Joel Eriksson Ek against the Jets after he was injured in Saturday’s game against Seattle. He headed to the locker room in the second period after taking an elbow to the face from the Kraken’s Adam Larsson along the boards.
Eriksson Ek briefly returned to the ice with a protective face shield before leaving again and remaining out for the rest of the game. He has one goal this season.
–Field Level Media