The Minnesota Wild open a two-game road trip against the Washington Capitals today at 2:30 p.m., and Jesper Wallstedt will be in goal. The game is on Wild+ and KOOL FM 107.9, with Minnesota carrying a four-game point streak into its 11th road game of the season.
That road work has already piled up fast. The Wild have played more away games than any other team in the NHL by this date, and they arrive with a 5-3-2 road record, three straight road wins, a 29-23 edge in road scoring and a plus-46 shot differential away from home at 306-260.
For Wallstedt, this is another step in a season that has already pushed him into the middle of the league picture. He is 8-2-3 with a 2.57 GAA and a.912 save percentage in 13 starts, leads the NHL with 307 saves and ranks second in wins and fifth in GAA and save percentage. He will also face the Capitals for the first time in his career.
The Wild still come in with momentum, even if Friday night was not clean. They lost to the New York Islanders in overtime, but before that they beat Vancouver, Seattle and Utah, and Kirill Kaprizov reached 500 career points while being named the NHL’s Second Star of the Month for October after posting 24 points. That is the balance Minnesota is carrying into Washington: a club playing well enough to keep climbing, but not so settled that one overtime loss can be ignored.
The lineup around Wallstedt is still the open question beyond the reported starter, but the larger picture is plain. Minnesota has already banked enough road points to matter in the standings, and the next checkpoint comes at puck drop. By the time the afternoon game is over, the Wild will know whether a demanding road stretch has turned into something more than a good start.
