Preview: Wild vs. Blue Jackets

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild opens the season tonight against the Blue Jackets in St. Paul.

Info for Tonight's Game:

• When: Thursday, October 10 at 7:00 p.m. CT
• Where: Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota)
• Tickets: Wild vs. Blue Jackets
• Additional Ticket Offers: Minnesota Athletes in Paris Ticket Pack
• Watch: Bally Sports North
• Listen: KFAN 100.3 FM
• Gamecenter: Wild vs. Blue Jackets

Wild Record: 0-0-0, 0 points, T-4th in Central Division

Blue Jackets Record: 0-0-0, 0 points, T-3rd in Metropolitan Division

2023-24 Series Record: 1-0-1

All-Time Wild Record: 33-22-11 (21-7-6 at Xcel Energy Center, 12-15-5 at Columbus)

Last Season on Wild vs. Blue Jackets

Minnesota went 1-0-1 against Columbus.

The Blue Jackets won the series-opening game, 5-4, in overtime at Xcel Energy Center (10/21).

Minnesota secured a 4-3 overtime win in Columbus in the second game (1/6). LW Matt Boldy (2-1=3), LW Marcus Johansson (2-1=3), C Joel Eriksson Ek (0-3=3) and D Brock Faber (0-3=3) all had three points. G Filip Gustavsson saved 49-of-54 shots faced for Minnesota in the first meeting. G Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26-of-29 shots in the second game.

C Cole Sillinger led Columbus with four points (3-1=4). D Damon Severson (0-2=2) and D Adam Boqvist (0-2=2) each had two points. G Elvis Merzlikins saved 24-of-28 shots faced for Columbus to earn an overtime win in the first game. G Daniil Tarasov stopped 32-of-36 in the second meeting.

Wild Leaders Against Blue Jackets

• Johansson leads Minnesota with 22 points (10-12=22) in 33 career games against the Blue Jackets
• RW Mats Zuccarello has 18 points (8-10=18) in 31 games
• D Jared Spurgeon owns 13 points (2-11=13) in 25 matches
• C Ryan Hartman has 11 points (1-10=11) in 15 games

Blue Jackets Leaders Against Wild

• D Jack Johnson leads Columbus with 18 points (4-14=18) in 45 career games against Minnesota
• C Sean Monahan has 14 points (6-8=14) in 29 games
• LW James van Riemsdyk owns 11 points (8-3=11) in 20 games
• Severson owns seven assists (0-7=7) in 17 games

Recent Transactions

The Minnesota Wild signed G Jesper Wallstedt to a two-year contract extension through the 2026-27 season (10/7).

To view more recent transactions, visit wild.com/transactions.

Connections

• Columbus Head Coach Dean Evason spent parts of five seasons as the Head Coach of Minnesota, posting a 147-77-27 record in 251 games (2020-23). Evason led Minnesota to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of his first four seasons
• Columbus Goalie Coach Niklas Backstrom went 194-142-50 in 409 career games with Minnesota (2006-15). He is the franchise leader in games played and wins

Fast Facts

• Minnesota is on a nine-game point streak (7-0-2) vs. Columbus, its longest point streak against the Blue Jackets and has earned points in 17 of its last 23 meetings (12-6-5)
• The Wild is 8-5-2 in its last 15 games at Nationwide Arena and 11-4-5 in the last 20 games at Xcel Energy Center
• The Wild (12-game win streak) vs. Blue Jackets (14-game win streak) game on Dec. 31, 2016, marked the first time two teams faced each other while holding win streaks of at least 12 games in the history of the NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL, MLS and WNBA.

For more information on tonight's season opener, check out the game notes below.