Preview: Bruins ready to get Wild in Minnesota

(Note: All stats, standings, etc. are current as of Tuesday evening prior to the Bruins-Blackhawks game.)

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7:30 PM

Where: Xcel Energy Center - St. Paul, MN

How to follow: TNT, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN site: Hockey Wilderness

Know your enemy

• 34-20-4, 72 points, T-3rd in the Central Division
• Kirill Kaprizov: 30G-43A-73PTS; Mats Zuccarello: 19G-41A-60PTS; Kevin Fiala: 20G-34A-54PTS
• Cam Talbot: 22-12-1, 3.00 GAA, .906 save percentage

Game notes

• Pardon the immediate digression, but it’s one thing that I have never quite understood: the fascination with making the Bruins and Wild a national TV match-up. It happened all the time in the Versus/NBCSN days, and we’re back on national TV tonight with TNT. I remember back when these two teams played on Rivalry Night on (I think) NBC Sports, which...yeah.
• I’m sure it has a lot to do with knowing two hockey-mad media markets will tune in, but it’s always been kind of weird.
• Anyways, back to the game at hand. The Bruins, as you know, will be playing their second game in as many nights tonight, while Minnesota has been off since Sunday night.
• The Wild are in a bit of a skid as of late, going 3-6-1 in their last ten, including two consecutive losses (though one was in OT). While they’re currently in playoff position, they don’t have a ton of room for extended error in a tight Western Conference race.
• I’m curious to see if there are any shenanigans tonight involving Trent Frederic. As you may remember, Frederic threw a hit that injured Kirill Kaprizov when these two teams met back in January. Frederic answered the bell and fought Dmitry Kulikov afterwards, but the Wild did a lot of complaining about it after the fact.
• Speaking of that last match-up, it was Massachusetts native Matt Boldy’s first NHL game, and he ended up scoring the eventual game-winning goal. Boldy has done pretty well for himself since then, with 24 points in 27 games on the season.
• I felt like the Bruins rarely play well against the Wild, so I went and looked it up. Per Hockey Reference, the Bruins have a .463 all-time points percentage against the Wild, the fourth-worst mark in franchise history. The Bruins have only fared worse against the Hamilton Tigers (.167), Anaheim Ducks (.449), and Montreal Canadiens (.455).
• The Wild acquired Tyson Jost from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Nico Sturm on Tuesday. Jost is likely to be in the mix for the Wild tonight.
• Jeremy Swayman will get the start in net for the Bruins.

See ya tonight!