The Minnesota Wild take their 2-0-0 start into Buffalo tonight, with Jesper Wallstedt expected to make his third start and Kirill Kaprizov set to play career game No. 400. Puck drop against the Buffalo Sabres is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on Wild+ and KFAN FM 100.3.
That is the headline because Minnesota has opened with a clean early edge and another chance to keep it. The Wild beat Nashville and Boston by a combined 7-2 and have not allowed a power play goal in either game, while Buffalo comes in at 1-1-0 after losing to Columbus before beating the Blackhawks 4-3 on Saturday night.
The matchup also carries a familiar shape from last season, when Minnesota went 1-0-1 against Buffalo. The Wild lost 4-3 in a shootout in Saint Paul, then won 5-4 in overtime in Buffalo, two games that showed how thin the margin can be when these teams meet. Tonight, the margin may again be decided in the details around special teams and goaltending.
That is where Minnesota has held the cleaner card so far. The Wild are 7-7 on penalty kill chances and have scored three power play goals, tying them for fifth early in the league in that category. Buffalo, by contrast, ranks 29th on the penalty kill, has allowed two goals on five chances, and has not scored a power play goal in its first two games after starting the season 0-5 on the man advantage.
Wallstedt has been part of that early stability. He enters 2-0-0 with a 1.01 GAA and a.957 SV%, and he has stopped all 10 shots he has faced while Minnesota has been shorthanded. He has never played against Buffalo before, which adds another layer to a game that already asks him to keep Minnesota's opening run intact.
Buffalo is expected to counter with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who has started both of its first two games and is 1-1-0 with a 4.03 GAA and a.784 SV%. He has a stronger track record against Minnesota over time, going 3-2-2 with a 2.78 GAA and a.913 SV% in seven career starts against the Wild. That history matters because this game is less about reputation than execution, and Buffalo needs better work in front of him to change the tone.
Kirill Kaprizov is the player who makes this feel bigger than a routine October stop. He enters with 14 points in nine career games against Buffalo, has scored in six of those matchups, and is trying to extend a goal streak to three games. It is also the first time he has started a season with a multiple-game goal streak, and game No. 400 gives the night a milestone edge that will follow him no matter how the score turns.
Matt Boldy has yet to record a point in Minnesota's first two games, though he has nine shots and has produced six points in eight career games against Buffalo. If the Wild keep driving play the way they have so far, the pressure on Buffalo will come from more than one line. For the Sabres, the question is whether a team still searching for its first power play goal can find enough lift to test a Minnesota group that has started by winning the small battles as well as the big ones.
For the Wild, this is a chance to turn an early two-game burst into something sturdier. For Buffalo, it is a fast way to find out whether the season opener was the low point or just the first warning.
