Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Buffalo

The essentials

ST. PAUL -- The Wild wraps up its three-game homestand on Saturday when it hosts the Buffalo Sabres at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota rolled to a 6-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks in its last outing on Thursday. Six players scored goals while 11 different players tallied at least one point for the Wild in a balanced effort.
The game Saturday marks the first of back-to-back games this weekend for the Wild, which heads to Chicago after the game for a matchup with the Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday evening.

The Wild is 2-2-0 in the front half of back-to-backs this season, posting a perfect 4-0-0 mark in the second half.
Buffalo opened a three-game road trip on Friday with a 2-1 shootout win in Winnipeg. Jeff Skinner scored the tying goal 53 seconds into the third period and the teams went seven rounds in a shootout before Conor Sheary scored the deciding tally.
The victory was the fourth straight for the Sabres, who have posted a 5-2-0 record in the month of November.
Skinner leads the Sabres offensively with 14 goals and 21 points. Jack Eichel has 16 assists and 20 points. Former Wild forward Jason Pominville has had a resurgent season with eight goals and 15 points in 18 games.
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Goaltender Carter Hutton, who signed a three-year contract with Buffalo over the summer after two years in St. Louis, made 25 saves in the victory at Winnipeg. Linus Ullmark is likely to get the start in goal against the Wild. In five starts this season, Ullmark has posted a 3-0-1 record with a 2.79 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage.

Winning is fun

• Minnesota is 12-5-2 in 19 games this season, ranking second in the Western Conference and T-3rd in the NHL in points (26) - one point behind Nashville and Tampa Bay for most points in the League.
• Out of the Wild's 12 wins this season, Minnesota has not allowed more than two goals in nine of those contests. The Wild is 9-0-1 this season when allowing two-or-less goals.
• The Wild's 26 points after 19 games rank T-1st in team history (2013-14).
• Minnesota has won 11 of its last 14 games (11-3-0), ranking T-1st in the in NHL in wins and second in points (22) since Oct. 16.
• The Wild is one of four NHL teams that has not lost more than one regulation in a row this season (Boston, Montreal & Winnipeg).

Home sweet home

• Minnesota is 6-1-2 in nine home games this season, ranking T-2nd in home points (14) and T-4th in home wins in the NHL.
• The Wild was the last NHL team to lose in regulation on home ice and is one of three teams with only one regulation home loss this season (New Jersey & New York Islanders).
• Per NHL Stats, dating back to the start of last season, the Wild is 33-7-10 in 50-regular season games at Xcel Energy Center, with only three regulation losses in the building since Christmas (22-3-8 since Dec. 27, 2017). The seven regulation losses since the beginning of the 2017-18 campaign are the fewest in the League.

Series notes

2017-18: Minnesota swept the season series against Buffalo with a 5-4 victory in the first contest at KeyBank Center (11/22) and a 6-2 win in the second contest at Xcel Energy Center (1/4)…RW Mikael Granlund (2-3=5), C Mikko Koivu (1-4=5) and RW Nino Niederreiter (5-0=5) each led the Wild with five points…C Charlie Coyle (1-2=3) tallied three points…LW Marcus Foligno (0-2=2) and D Ryan Suter (0-2=2) collected two points apiece…G Devan Dubnyk went 2-0-0 with a 3.00 GAA and a .908 SV% in two starts…D Jake McCabe (0-2=2), RW Jason Pominville (0-2=2) and C Sam Reinhart (2-0=2) each led the Sabres with two points…G Chad Johnson went 0-0-0 with a 4.50 GAA and a .870 SV% in two games (one start)…G Robin Lehner went 0-2-0 with a 6.09 GAA and a .778 SV% in two games (one start).
WILD LEADERS: C Eric Staal leads Minnesota with 45 points (15-30=45) in 47 games against Buffalo…LW Zach Parise owns 21 points (9-12=21) in 32 contests…Koivu has 15 points (4-11=15) in 15 games…Suter owns 13 points (2-11=13) in 15 matches…Granlund has nine points (3-6=9) in nine games…Niederreiter owns nine points (8-1=9) in 10 contests - his most goals against any NHL franchise.
WILD GOALIES:Dubnyk is 5-2-0 with a 1.85 GAA, a .935 SV% and two shutouts in seven starts vs. the Sabres…G Alex Stalock recorded the loss in his sole career action, stopping 13-of-15 shots (10/25/14).
SABRES LEADERS: C Patrik Berglund leads the Sabres with 18 points (9-9=18) in 37 matchups against Minnesota…RW Kyle Okposo has nine points (3-6=9) in 16 games…C Jeff Skinner owns eight points (3-5=8) in 11 matches…LW Vladimir Sobotka has eight points (3-5=8) in 18 contests.
SABRES GOALIES: G Carter Hutton is 2-3-1 with a 4.01 GAA, a .879 SV% and one shutout in six career games vs. the Wild (five starts)…G Linus Ullmark earned the win, stopping 28-of-30 shots in his sole career action against Minnesota (1/12/16).

Did you know?

Niederreiter's two career hat tricks have been scored against Buffalo at Xcel Energy Center…He is one of three players all-time to record more than one hat trick against the Sabres (Daniel Alfredsson, Mario Lemieux)