Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Los Angeles

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
The Wild opens its 20th season on Thursday night when it opens the 2020-21 regular season against the "division" rival Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.
Minnesota and L.A. will share a division in hockey for the first time, going back even to the North Stars days. The arrangement is temporary, as COVID-19 has forced the creation of an All-Canadian division, which has shuffled teams in the United States as well.
The Wild and Blues are the only teams from the Central Time Zone to be in the new 'West' Division, joining normal Central Division opponent Colorado and Pacific teams Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Arizona and Vegas.
As division mates this season, the Wild and Kings will play eight times in all, including the first and second games of the season. The two clubs will get all of their meetings out of the way early; Minnesota and Los Angeles will play all eight of their contests by the end of February.
More than 1/3 of the Wild's first 22 games will come against Los Angeles, so get used to what you see on Thursday.

"You have to treat every little segment as a mini-playoff series," said Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. "You go in and you play the same team two, or even four times in a row, so you have to treat games like playoff games. The season is different playing only seven teams and the points are huge. A good start and getting off on the right foot is going to be big for us."
The Kings were one of seven teams in the NHL to not qualify for the Return to Play portion of the schedule over the summer, and haven't played a meaningful hockey game since a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on March 11.
The NHL paused it's season the following day.
Los Angeles had won seven consecutive games when the season was stopped, which was the longest active streak in the League at the time. During that streak, the Kings defeated the Wild 7-3 at Staples Center on March 7.
Minnesota lost two of the three meetings against L.A. last season, with its only win coming in St. Paul on Oct. 26, 2019. The Kings have won 20 of 34 meetings between the clubs in Tinseltown.
Goaltender Cam Talbot is expected to start for the Wild. Signed by Minnesota to a three-year contract last July 1, it will be Talbot's first start in a Wild uniform. He is 7-9-0 with a 2.81 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in 18 games (16 starts) in his career against the Kings.
Jonathan Quick will start for the Kings. He's 14-8-5 in 27 career starts against Minnesota, posting a 2.57 goals-against and has stopped an even 90 percent of shots faced.