3 Game Essentials | Kraken (40-24-8) at Wild (42-22-9) | 5 p.m.

ST. PAUL - The Kraken will face a third straight motivated NHL postseason contender Monday night to finish the four-game road trip. And it's the second first-place team they have faced in seven nights. Minnesota moved into first place in the Central Division Saturday after months of chasing Dallas (the first foe on Seattle's road swing). The Wild scored late in a tight game against lowly Chicago, finding a way to win before a raucous sellout crowd of 19,312. Expect high-level noise Monday night.
Minnesota is 14-1-4 in its last 19 games and doing it in the last seven games (5-1-2) without young star scorer Kirill Kaprizov, out with a lower-body injury suffered March 8. Twenty-one-year-old left wing Matt Boldy has picked up the scoring, notching eight goals in the eight games without Kaprizov, and has 29 assists in just his second NHL season. Norway-born veteran Mats Zuccarello (22 G, 42 A) is another Wild forward who can generate scoring chances.
The Wild defense is rock-solid with a goalie tandem putting up strong stats. Filip Gustavsson, sporting a .932 save percentage on the season, started in goal Saturday for his 19th win. Future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury (23 wins, .907 save percentage) is the probable starter since the Wild have alternated each goalie start since mid-March. Saturday's 3-1 win was the 26th game of the season in which the Wild gave up one or no goals. Only league-leading Boston has more (28) and the Wild surrender an average of 2.05 goals per game.

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The Kraken's depth scoring continues to prove valuable in wresting much-needed standings points. After his 12-point streak ended Thursday, Kraken leading scorer Vince Dunn notched two assists in Saturday's romp. But keep in mind Dunn started the critical insurance goal Seattle needed to stretch a tight game to a 4-2 score in the third period. He added an assist on Matty Beniers' 20th goal of the season.
Dunn now is at 60 points and just one ahead of leading goal scorer Jared McCann, who notched his 35th goal this year and added assists on the Kraken's first power-play goal in six games while picking up the primary assist on that all-important insurance goal. McCann has 59 points and counting. He's logged 27 points in the last 26 games, pairing with Dunn to provide consistent scoring game in and game out. But there's reason to forget Daniel Sprong has 19 goals playing an average of 10 minutes of time on ice. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen both now have 17 goals. Bjorkstrand has 40 points and became the sixth Kraken player to surpass Andre Burakovsky's 39 points, which led the team before he was placed on the injured list 22 games ago.
Geek Squad alert: After pulling off two of the season's best passes on Kraken goals (Jordan Eberle has several nominees himself) during the first two games on this trip, Morgan Geekie was moved from fourth-line center to join center Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz. He looked comfortable and in sync with the two smooth-skating veterans even though Geekie has effectively worked on the fourth line all season. It sounds like Geekie will get another chance in the top six with Ryan Donato staying in the lineup centering between Daniel Sprong and Brandon Tanev.
"We wanted to give the opportunity to Morgan," said Dave Hakstol, when queried after Saturday's big win. "He's got some abilities that can fit well with 'Wenny' and 'Schwartzy.' That's a spot we've had some guys rotate through a little bit over the last month or so. Morgan did a solid job there. He created offense. He played hard in both directions."