7 p.m. at Winnipeg • MTS Centre • FSN, 100.3-FM
Preview: The Wild, 2-1 on its four-game trip and 2-0 this season against Winnipeg, has a difficult back-to-back situation, returning to play Chicago on Wednesday for the first of eight consecutive home games. The Wild is a league-best 17-6-5 on the road (39 points). It leads the Western Conference and is third in the NHL at 3.33 goals per game. … The Jets, 6-0 vs. the Central at home, rank ninth in the NHL at 2.89 goals per game. In 24 games since Dec. 13, the Wild has scored five or more goals 11 times.
Players to watch: Wild leading scorer Mikael Granlund, coming off his first career hat trick and named the NHL's second star of the week on Monday, is riding a franchise-record 12-game point streak (17 points), the longest point streak in the NHL this season. Since Dec. 7, no NHL player has more assists (24) and points (34) than Granlund. Granlund and C Eric Staal are tied for 13th in the NHL with 24 points on the road. LW Jason Zucker is tied for 11th in the NHL with 25 road points. Eleven of C Mikko Koivu's 16 goals have come on the road. Jets C Mark Scheifele is tied for third with 25 goals. Young star Patrik Laine just had an eight-game point streak ended. D Dustin Byfuglien leads the NHL in ice time (27:20 per game) and is seventh among defensemen with 34 points.
Numbers: The Wild ranks second in the NHL with 122 5-on-5 goals, two fewer than Washington. The Wild ranks second in the NHL with 117 5-on-5 goals against — seven more than the Capitals. … On the road trip, the Wild is 0-for-5 on the power play and its penalty kill has allowed four goals on nine chances.
Injuries: Wild D Jonas Brodin (broken finger) is out. Winnipeg D Tyler Myers (lower body), C Marko Dano (leg), D Ben Chiarot (upper body) and RW are out. RW Drew Stafford (lower body) might return.
Michael Russo
