The Blue Jackets and Wild meet Sunday with Minnesota carrying a 36-23-11 edge in their prior matchups, but the game comes with one notable absence on the home side: Brock Faber remains out. Columbus enters after a 1-0 overtime win over the New York Rangers on Saturday, a result that gives the matchup an immediate back-to-back edge story without changing the larger history between the teams.
That history reaches back to 2000-01, when both clubs began play as expansion teams, and it helps explain why this game draws attention even on a light schedule. Only two teams that played on NHL Saturday, when 28 teams were in action, are back again Sunday, which makes this one of the few games on the board and a quick search for fans looking for where to follow it on the NHL streaming hub or the App.
For Minnesota, the lineup still carries plenty of names worth watching. Quinn Hughes and Matt Boldy are set to play, while Faber’s absence leaves a gap the Wild have to cover against a Columbus team that leans on Zach Werenski for heavy minutes. That combination matters because the Blue Jackets are not just trying to ride Saturday’s momentum; they are trying to chip away at a series record that has tilted Minnesota’s way for years.
The contrast is sharp. Columbus arrives with a fresh win and less recovery time, while Minnesota holds the edge on paper and still has to manage a missing defenseman. That leaves Sunday’s meeting less about the record alone than about whether the Blue Jackets can turn a narrow rest window into another result against a familiar opponent.
On this day in 1967, there was a different kind of tight finish: the Flyers beat the Blues 2-1 in Game No. 3, with Ed Hoekstra scoring the winner in the third period. Sunday’s Blue Jackets-Wild meeting has a smaller stage than that one, but the same basic appeal stays the same — a close game, a short schedule, and enough uncertainty to make the next shift matter.
