Minnesota Wild @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:30 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: Prime, FDSNNO, FDSNWI

The Leafs last game was away on January 17 against the Winnipeg Jets, which Toronto won by a score of 4-3 in overtime. The Leafs have a record of 24-16-8 for a 0.583 Points %.

The Minnesota Wild last played away on January 17 against the Buffalo Sabres. The Wild won by a score of 5-4 in overtime, and their current league record is 27-13-9 for a 0.643 Points %.

Them

The Wild recently suffered some injuries, so this isn't quite the full team today. They are missing Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson.

The Wild are very strong in net and that stability and reliability gives Minnesota its strength in the face of adversity. They have the second best team Save % behind the Avalanche, and are virtually tied with the Islanders. By more advanced measures Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt are good to very good, not in the excellent position of the Islanders. They don't need to be better because the team has their backs.

At five-on-five, the Wild are one of the 50% club, with 48% Corsi and 50% xG. Their rate of shots against has been their big weakness at times, and they'd be last in the NHL by that measure without Toronto to cushion them. They make for that problem a great deal by the quality of shots they allow – their 12th best in the NHL by that measure. But in that middle of the NHL area, there isn't a significant difference between them at 2.72 and Toronto (19th) at 2.8. In other words, rankings can mislead by allowing you to assume significance when there isn't one.

What the Wild manage to do with these muddy middle numbers is shoot the puck more than you'd expect and improve on that a tiny amount with xG.

Their power play averages out to be identical to the Leafs by rate of Expected Goals, but they have scored a little bit more. They allow a lot of quality shots shorthanded, like the Leafs do, but their goaltending helps a bit.

So what is the difference between this team and the Leafs? One plays in the west, the other the east.

Lines

Last Game (2026-01-17) via Daily Faceoff and the same as today's skate with a possible third pairing change.

Kirill Kaprizov - Ryan Hartman - Mats Zuccarello
Yakov Trenin - Danila Yurov - Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno - Hunter Haight - Vinnie Hinostroza
Ben Jones - Nico Sturm - Tyler Pitlick

Quinn Hughes - Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton - Jared Spurgeon
Daemon Hunt - David Jiricek

Filip Gustavsson - starter
Jesper Wallstedt

Us

Lines

From morning skate with Knies as a gametime decision, this is the group without him.

Bobby McMann - Auston Matthews - Max Domi
Matias Maccelli - John Tavares - Scott Laughton
Easton Cowan - Nicolas Roy - Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - Jacob Quillan - Calle Järnkrok

Morgan Rielly - Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Simon Benoit - Troy Stecher

Joe Woll - starter
Dennis Hildeby

The Game

The Leafs lost a game they had in the bag, and then won one they didn't "deserve" and have come home better than what most even hoped for, but still only on the threshold of having a postseason.

Keep at it, that's the only way to cross that threshold.

Game Coverage