Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Pittsburgh

The essentials

PITTSBURGH -- The Wild will play its final road game before the holiday break on Thursday when it takes on the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
The game Thursday marks the first of two meetings between the clubs before the end of December; the rematch takes place at Xcel Energy Center on New Year's Eve.
Minnesota is aiming to snap a brief two-game losing skid following a 4-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. The Wild just completed a four-game homestand in which it went 2-2-0, starting with a pair of wins followed by consecutive defeats.
Finishing has been the problem for the Wild in its recent two games. After scoring 12 goals in wins against Montreal and Florida, Minnesota scored just once in its two losses.
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said following a quick practice on Wednesday that it hasn't been because of a shortage of chances.

"We had opportunities. We just missed. Right now we're just holding the sticks so tight they're not putting them in," Boudreau said. "We can play some really good hockey. We're doing a lot of things right, we're just not doing, offensively, the things necessary to score goals."
Boudreau switched up his lines slightly at practice, giving them more of the traditional look, placing Jason Zucker with Eric Staal and Mikael Granlund, while putting Mikko Koivu between Zach Parise and Nino Niederreiter. Charlie Coyle was centering Jordan Greenway and Luke Kunin while the fourth line of Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Eric Fehr remained untouched.
"Every coach in this league moves the lines around when you're not being successful," Boudreau said. "It's nothing out of the ordinary."
The Penguins enter the game following a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday in the nation's capital.
Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust scored second-period goals just under 10 minutes apart to dig the Penguins out from a 1-0 deficit. Goaltender Matt Murray made 31 saves in the win.
The victory moved Pittsburgh to four games over .500 and the Pens currently sit one points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
But that doesn't mean the Wild will treat the Penguins lightly.
"They've been a little up and down, same as a lot of teams in the League," Boudreau said. "But at the same time, I still think when I watch their game ... 87 (Crosby) will still be out there, and [71] (Evgeni Malkin) will still be out there and 58 (Kris Letang). They've got good players, so if you think just because they've been having a mediocre season they're not a team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups only a short time ago, then we're in for a rude awakening."
Crosby leads the team offensively with 16 goals and 38 points. Malkin is second on the club with 37 points while former University of Minnesota star Phil Kessel has 14 goals and 36 points.
With Murray playing Wednesday, Casey DeSmith could get the start in goal. He's 10-6-4 in 23 appearances this season with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.

Standing Pat

Greg Pateryn is expected to play in his 200th career game Thursday. He skated a season-high 20:06 Tuesday and registered a game-high five blocked shots.
The blueliner made his Wild debut Oct. 6 at Colorado after signing as a free agent with Minnesota on July 1. He ranks fourth on the team in blocked shots (48) and fifth in hits (42) this season.
The 28-year-old recorded a plus-5 rating Nov. 3 at St. Louis which marked a career high and tied the franchise record for highest plus/minus rating in a single game by a Wild player: Jared Spurgeon & Clayton Stoner (3/25/13) and Todd White (10/19/05).

Surging Spurgeon

The blueliner owns nine points (1-8=9) in the last 11 games and 19 points (4-15=19) in 33 games this season. He ranks T-2nd on the team with a plus-4 rating, fourth in assists and fifth in blocked shots (45).
He netted his 13th career game-winning goal Dec. 11 vs. Montreal, tying him for first all-time amongst team defensemen (Burns, 13).
The Edmonton native owns the fewest penalty minutes amongst NHL defensemen that have played at least 500 games since 2010-11 (fourth fewest overall in that span amongst active players).

Series notes

All-Time Wild Record: 13-9-1 (6-4-1 at Xcel Energy Center, 7-5-0 at Pittsburgh)
2017-18: Minnesota split its season series against Pittsburgh with a 2-1 victory at Xcel Energy Center (10/28) and a 6-3 loss at PPG Paints Arena (1/25)…LW Marcus Foligno (0-2=2) and C Eric Staal (1-1=2) led the Wild with two points apiece…D Jonas Brodin, RW Mikael Granlund and C Mikko Koivu each netted a goal…G Devan Dubnyk went 1-1-0 with a 3.30 GAA and a .902 SV% in two starts…G Alex Stalock made 16-of-18 saves in relief in the second meeting…RW Phil Kessel (0-4=4) and C Evgeni Malkin (3-1=4) led the Penguins with four points each…C Sidney Crosby tallied three assists…G Matt Murray made 27 saves in the first game…G Casey DeSmith stopped 23-of-26 shots in the second game.
WILD LEADERS: Staal leads the Wild with 54 points (23-31=54) in 53 games vs. the Penguins…LW Zach Parise has 39 points (16-23=39) in 50 contests…C Eric Fehr owns 14 points (9-5=14) in 24 matches…D Ryan Suter has nine points (1-8=9) in 15 contests…Koivu owns nine points (4-5=9) in 17 games.
WILD GOALIES: Dubnyk is 5-5-0 with a 2.93 GAA and a .911 SV% in 10 career starts against Pittsburgh…Stalock is 0-0-1 with a 2.64 GAA and a .907 SV% in three games (one start).
PENGUINS LEADERS: Crosby leads the Penguins with 19 points (5-14=19) in 15 games vs. the Wild…C Derick Brassard has 17 points (5-12=17) in 25 contests…Malkin owns 16 points (7-9=16) in 12 matches…D Jack Johnson has 16 points (4-12=16) in 30 games.
PENGUINS GOALIES: Murray is 1-1-0 with a 1.51 GAA and a .945 SV% in two career starts against Minnesota…DeSmith earned the win in his sole career action against the Wild, making 23 saves (1/25/18).

Did you know?

Minnesota's season sweep vs. Pittsburgh in 2016-17 was the first time the Wild swept the Penguins in a season series since 2009-10… Minnesota is 3-1-0 in its last four games against Pittsburgh.