After beating Rangers, Wild hopes momentum carries into back-to-back games

DETROIT — The Wild returns to the road for a back-to-back starting Thursday against the Red Wings, and the team has momentum with it.

Before leaving for Detroit, the Wild edged the Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center for just its second win over the last eight games.

"We played like the Minnesota Wild last game against New York," coach Dean Evason said. "It can't be a one-off. It has to be a consistent basis now. We have to play that way. We're not going to win every hockey game, but we have to play the same way every hockey game. We think our group will do that."

Evason said there won't be any lineup changes, meaning goaltender Cam Talbot will start in net.

Talbot has won his last two starts after dropping four in a row. Up front, center Ryan Hartman has four goals in his last four games and winger Kevin Fiala is on a four-game point streak that includes three goals.

One of those goals came on the power play against the Rangers after the Wild capitalized just once in its previous seven games.

"Kevin could have stayed outside the dots," Evason said. "Came to the net. We got a bounce and a good play and scored the goal. So, we did a lot of good things on it. We'll continue to hopefully do that."

Projected lineup:

Kirill Kaprizov-Ryan Hartman-Mats Zuccarello

Jordan Greenway-Joel Eriksson Ek-Marcus Foligno

Kevin Fiala-Frederick Gaudreau-Matt Boldy

Brandon Duhaime-Nico Sturm-Nick Bjugstad

Jonas Brodin-Matt Dumba

Alex Goligoski-Dmitry Kulikov

Cam Talbot

Key numbers:

4: Points for rookie Matt Boldy the last time the Wild faced the Red Wings, a 7-4 win for the Wild.

6: Goals by Fiala over his past nine games.

6-2: Record for the Wild in the first game of a back-to-back.

9: Points for winger Kirill Kaprizov during a six-game point streak.

About the Red Wings:

Detroit has lost three in a row, getting outscored 18-5 in that span. On Tuesday, the Red Wings were routed 9-2 by the Coyotes. That was the second time over the past five games Detroit has given up nine even-strength goals; the other came in a 10-7 loss to Toronto on Feb.26. Captain Dylan Larkin leads the team in scoring with 57 points, and his 27 goals are also tops. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi (non-COVID illness) is a game-time decision.