The Minnesota Wild look to stay perfect on their longest road trip of the season when they wrap up the 2025 portion on Wednesday afternoon against the San Jose Sharks.
San Jose is the third stop on the seven-game stretch away from Saint Paul. On Monday, the Wild blew out the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 for their second consecutive victory.
Marcus Johansson matched his career high with four points, as the 16-year veteran forward scored a goal and assisted on three others to lead the Wild. Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jared Spurgeon also added a goal and an assist each in the victory.
Minnesota has the third-best record in the league. Unfortunately for the Wild, the two teams above them in the league standings, the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, are also in the Central Division.
“It’s obviously a big trip for us, and to be able to start and get some momentum here on the road, particularly on a long trip, certainly helps,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said after the win.
Boldy has eight goals since Dec. 14, scoring in six of his last eight games. He leads the team with 25 goals and is tied with Kirill Kaprizov with a team-high 47 points. Kaprizov, who has a team-best 24 assists, notched one in Monday’s win to give him at least a point in seven of his last eight games.
Wednesday’s game features three of the league’s top scorers. Boldy is tied for second in the NHL in goals, and Kaprizov is tied for fifth with 23. San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini is third in the league with 60 points. The second-year center is tied for eighth with 21 goals and tied for second with 39 assists.
The Sharks also have won two in a row and earned a big victory Monday on the road against Pacific Division rival Anaheim, 5-4. San Jose jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second period before the Ducks cut the lead to one with four minutes remaining.
Coach Ryan Warsofsky credited his team, the fifth-youngest in the league (26.92 years) according to Elite Prospects, for grinding out a win on the road.
“They’re not all going to be this perfect painting of what a win should look like,” Warsofsky said on Monday. “You’re going to have to find ways to win in different sorts of games, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that this year.”
Last season, the Sharks had the worst record in the NHL with 52 points in 82 games. Through 39 games this season, they have 41 and currently hold the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Celebrini tallied a goal and a pair of assists on Monday. The top pick in the 2024 NHL Draft has points in eight straight games and nine of 10. He did not practice Tuesday after taking a puck to the face in the win, but Warsofsky told reporters he expects his top scorer to play Wednesday.
The Sharks are ending December a battered team. Will Smith, the team’s second-leading scorer with 29 points, has missed more than two weeks of action due to an upper-body injury. He skated on his own during Tuesday’s practice but remains out.
In addition, Warsofsky said Tuesday that center Adam Gaudette would miss Wednesday’s game after suffering a lower-body injury in the third period of Monday’s win.
–Field Level Media
