WILD GAMEDAY
at New York Rangers, 6 p.m. Thursday, Madison Square Garden
TV; radio: BSN; 100.3 FM
Stats and analytics: Tap here.
Pregame reading: Vinni Lettieri waited to score his first Wild goal until Grandpa Lou Nanne was behind the mic ... or so it seemed.
For the fans: The Rangers lineup is filled with Minnesota natives, including former Gophers Ryan Lindgren and Blake Wheeler and high school standouts K'Andre Miller (Minnetonka) and Tyler Pitlick (Centennial).
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Sarah McLellan's preview:
Opening bell: The Wild (5-5-2) have been the only team lately able to slow down the Rangers, who are on a 7-0-1 run with their lone loss coming in a shootout to the Wild on Saturday. Since then, both teams have won a game, the Wild starting this road trip with a convincing victory over the Islanders. Will that momentum be enough to stymie the Rangers (9-2-1) again?
Watch him: RW Pat Maroon's Wild tenure is off to a terrific start. He has two goals and seven assists, his nine points just five shy of matching his total from last season with the Lightning. Maroon's line with LW Marcus Foligno and C Joel Eriksson Ek bookended the scoring on Tuesday, the trio delivering the forechecking style the Wild want to play.
Injuries: Wild RW Frederick Gaudreau (upper body), D Alex Goligoski (lower body) and D Jared Spurgeon (upper body); Rangers C Filip Chytil (upper body), D Adam Fox (lower body), G Igor Shesterkin (soreness) and G Jonathan Quick (upper body).
Forecast: The Wild outlasted the Rangers last week when they were four games deep into a losing streak and since then, they've only gotten better. If they stick to what's keyed their turnaround — the no-nonsense hockey that enables them to quickly transition from defense to offense — there's no reason why they can't have success in Round 2. But if the Wild stray from their strengths, the Rangers have the talent to make life difficult for the Wild.
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