Wild and Mammoth meet atop the Central with Minnesota's road trip ending
Minnesota (8-3-2) wraps a five-game road trip in Salt Lake City against Utah (8-4-0), the top two teams in the Central Division.
Jesper Wallstedt will start for the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday as they finish a five-game road trip against the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City. The clubs enter the game first and second in the Central Division, respectively.
Minnesota is 8-3-2 with 18 points, two ahead of Utah, which is 8-4-0. The Wild can finish the trip with three consecutive wins after victories in Seattle and Vancouver followed losses to Edmonton in overtime and Calgary.
Minnesota's second periods helped turn the trip around: the Wild scored five goals without conceding and held a 31-4 shot advantage across the middle frames of those two wins, according to the club's preview.
Wallstedt has a 7-2-2 record, a 2.08 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage in 11 starts. He will face Utah for the second time in his NHL career.
Matt Boldy has eight points in six games and leads the league with 59 shots. Bobby Brink scored his first goal of the season Sunday in Vancouver, where Quinn Hughes also scored to reach 500 career NHL points. Hughes has points in 11 of 13 games this season.
Kirill Kaprizov has scored 13 goals this season.
