Minnesota Wild close out a brief two-game homestand as they host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Minnesota’s lineup returns to full strength for the first time this season, as Nino Niederreiter re-enters the lineup after missing the past five games with a lower-body injury.
Buffalo Sabres (10-20-9) projected lines and defensive pairings (via dailyfaceoff)
28 Zemgus Girgensons – 15 Jack Eichel – 23 Sam Reinart
9 Evander Kane – 90 Ryan O’Reilly – 21 Kyle Okoposo
67 Benoit Pouliot – 71 Evan Rodrigues – 29 Jason Pominville
22 Johan Larsson – 10 Jacob Josefson – 17 Jordan Nolan
6 Marco Scandella – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe – 47 Zach Bogosian
82 Nathan Beaulieu – 41 Justin Falk
Starting Goaltender: 40 Robin Lehner (9-14-6, 2.75 GAA, .916 SV%, 1 SO)
Noteworthy things:
- Buffalo holds an all-time record of 7-3-0 at Xcel Energy Center.
- This is Buffalo’s first game since playing in the 2018 NHL Winter Classic. Buffalo lost 3-2 in overtime to the New York Rangers.
- This also marks the first game in a three-game road trip for the Sabres — as they were the designated home team for Monday’s Winter Classic.
- Jack Eichel has registered 11 points (7G-4A) in his past seven games. The seven goals in that time are tied for first in the NHL.
- Evander Kane, perhaps the biggest name out on the trade market right now, has scored five points (1G-4A) in five games against Minnesota since the 2014-15 season. Kane is tied for first on the Sabres in goals (15) and is second on the team in assists (19) and points (34) this season.
- Robin Lehner has two wins in four games (2-1-1) against Minnesota and holds a .952 save percentage in those meetings.
Minnesota Wild projected lines and defensive pairings (via Dane Mizutani)
16 Jason Zucker – 12 Eric Staal – 63 Tyler Ennis
22 Nino Niederreiter – 9 Mikko Koivu – 64 Mikael Granlund
11 Zach Parise – 3 Charlie Coyle – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek
17 Marcus Foligno – 7 Matt Cullen – 26 Daniel Winnik
20 Ryan Suter – 46 Jared Spurgeon
25 Jonas Brodin – 24 Matt Dumba
23 Gustav Olofsson – 39 Nate Prosser
Starting Goaltender: 40 Devan Dubnyk (14-8-2, 2.59 GAA, .919 SV%, 3 SO)
Noteworthy things:
- Minnesota has dominated Buffalo in the past decade, getting points in 11 of the past 14 meetings (9-3-2 in that time) dating back to March 2007.
- As they close out the homestand, the Wild enter the evening winners of 10 of the past 12 games in St. Paul (10-1-1).
- Eric Staal has tallied 12 points (7G-5A) in the past 12 games, and owns a career mark of 15G-30A-45P in 46 games against the Sabres.
- Niederreiter returns to the Wild lineup after missing the past five games. The Chur, Switzerland native scored two goals in Minnesota’s 5-4 win over Buffalo on Nov. 24.
- Matt Dumba (4G-3A in his past seven games) currently holds 99 career points — all with Minnesota — and can become the seventh blueliner in team history to hit the century mark in points scored.
- Devan Dubnyk will get his second consecutive start for the Wild tonight. In his career against the Sabres, Dubnyk has posted a career mark of 4-2-0 with a 1.83 GAA, .935 save percentage, and two shutouts.
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