NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Minnesota made the playoffs six straight years from 2012-13 to 2017-18 before falling short of the postseason last year. A slow and inconsistent start to 2020 (3-4-1 since Jan. 1) has kept the Wild at the bottom of the standings and just when they put forth a dominant effort with a 7-0 win against Dallas on Saturday, they followed things up with a last-second loss to Florida on Monday.
Sitting last in the Central Division, the Wild will play the fourth game of a season-long seven-game homestand (separated by All-Star break). This homestand is part of a stretch in which Minnesota has 11 home games in a 12-game span and on the season they have fared much better at home.
Monday’s loss was not without positives as Minnesota went 2-for-4 on the power play, their fourth straight game with a power-play goal and second straight with multiple PP goals after going 3-for-3 on the PP Saturday against Dallas. It was just over a week ago that Minnesota went 0-for-5 on the PP vs. Vancouver and committed eight penalties (VAN went 1-for-8 on PP in that game and won 4-1).
With 28 points through 50 games, the Red Wings are on pace to finish this season with just 46 points, which would be the fewest points by any team in an 82-game season since the expansion Atlanta Thrashers in 1999-00 (39 points). It would also be Detroit’s worst season since 1985-86, when they finished with 40 points in an 80-game season.
Detroit enters this game having lost five straight (0-4-1) and is coming off a 6-3 loss at Colorado on Monday in which they were outshot 46-25. The Red Wings are 1-for-18 in their last five games on the power play and have given up a league-high nine shorthanded goals this season.
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]
WHAT: Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild
WHERE: Xcel Energy Center
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 22, 7 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Red Wings-Wild stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
RED WINGS
Tyler Bertuzzi - Dylan Larkin - Filip Zadina
Robby Fabbri - Valtteri Filppula - Givani Smith
Darren Helm - Luke Glendening - Adam Erne
Brendan Perlini - Christoffer Ehn - Justin Abdelkader
Patrik Nemeth - Filip Hronek
Trevor Daley - Madison Bowey
Dennis Cholowski - Alex Biega
Starting goalie: Jimmy Howard
WILD
Zach Parise - Eric Staal - Mats Zuccarello
Jason Zucker - Ryan Donato - Kevin Fiala
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Luke Kunin
Jordan Greenway - Mikko Koivu - Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba
Greg Pateryn - Carson Soucy
Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk
Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire will have the call from Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Pre-game coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET, hosted by Liam McHugh with analysts Mike Milbury and Keith Jones.