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Game 20
Buffalo Sabres (11-6-2) vs Minnesota Wild (12-5-2)
Puck Drop: 6:00 PM | XCEL Energy Center | Saint Paul, MN
TV: MSG-B
Radio: WGR 550
SB Nation Wild Blog: Hockey Wilderness
Know Your Opponent
Minnesota Wild
Record: (12-5-2) | 26 PTS
Last 10: 7-3-0
Division Ranking: 2nd in the Central Division
Conference Ranking: 2nd in the Western Conference
PP: 14th (20.6%)
PK: 5th (85.5%)
What to Watch
1. Mittelstadt Homecoming
Minnesota native, Casey Mittelstadt will play in his home state for the first time as a professional tonight. Perhaps he’ll have a bit of extra fire in his game playing in front of family and friends? His home town of Eden Prairie is a short 30 minute drive from Saint Paul.
2. Ullmark Likely in Net?
After two consecutive games where Carter Hutton stood on his head, leading the Sabres to victory, Linus Ullmark will likely get the nod in net tonight. In five starts this season, Ullmark has posted a .916 save-percentage and one shutout. He’ll look to rebound from a rough outing against the Montreal Canadiens last week where he allowed five tallies on 37 shots.
3. Gasp! Is That a Starting Goalie?
After squaring off with backup netminders twice in a row against Tampa Bay and Winnipeg respectively, the Sabres will have to try and solve Devan Dubnyk tonight. The 32-year-old currently holds a .926 save percentage and a 9-4-0-2 record this season.
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Jeff Skinner - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary - Casey Mittelstadt - Kyle Okposo
Vladimir Sobotka - Patrik Berglund - Jason Pominville
Zemgus Girgensons - Johan Larsson - Tage Thompson
Defense
Jake McCabe - Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella - Zach Bogosian
Nathan Beaulieu - Rasmus Dahlin
Starting Goaltender: Linus Ullmark (Projected)
Minnesota Wild
Forwards
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Nino Niederreiter
Marcus Foligno - Charlie Coyle - Jordan Greenway
Matt Hendricks - Eric Fehr - J.T. Brown
Defense
Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin - Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn
Starting Goaltender: Devan Dubnyk