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Minnesota Wild at Seattle Kraken

Sat Oct 247:00 PM PTESPN+Seattle, WA
By JR·2 min read
Wild(6-3-2)
Kraken(7-3-1)
Saturday 10/247:00 PM

TLDR: Minnesota came west on the longest road trip of its season and has spent the first 2 stops losing by a goal. Seattle is home, scoring on the power play, and waiting.

SUN 10/25, 7:00 PMESPN+
Wild
(6-3-2)
LLWWL
Kraken
(7-3-1)
WWLLW

The Minnesota Wild (6-3-2) reach Seattle in the middle of a 5-game road trip, having lost 2 straight 1-goal games in which the penalty kill gave up key goals. The Seattle Kraken (7-3-1) have won 2 straight at home and scored twice on the power play against Utah. Jesper Wallstedt's form in goal is Minnesota's best asset, but the Wild have not named a starter for the front end of a back-to-back, and their blue line is thin with Brock Faber out.

Minnesota Wild
  • Wallstedt 6-1-2, 2.20 GAA, leads NHL in saves
  • Both trip losses by a single goal
  • Nico Sturm back from head injury
  • Penalty kill leaked in both trip losses
  • 1 goal total in Calgary
  • Faber out, Foligno brothers on IR
Seattle Kraken
  • 2 power-play goals against Utah
  • Won 2 straight at Climate Pledge
  • Led after every period vs Utah
  • Gave up 8 at Florida days earlier
  • Lindgren out, Montour day to day
  • Detroit win needed a shootout

This is stop 3 of a 5-game swing for the Wild, Edmonton to Calgary to Seattle to Vancouver to Utah. As of Friday the trip is 0-2, with a 4-3 loss to the Oilers and a 2-1 loss to the Flames. Both were 1-goal games. Both turned on the penalty kill. In Calgary the Flames scored twice in the 1st, one of them a Joel Farabee power-play goal, and Minnesota found 1 goal all night. The Wild are 6-3-2 overall, so this is not a team in crisis. It is a team that has stopped scoring at the wrong time.

Jesper Wallstedt is the reason the Wild are still above water. Through 9 appearances he is 6-1-2 with a 2.20 GAA and a .915 save percentage, and he leads the NHL with 216 saves. That last number is a compliment and also a warning about how much he has been asked to do. Filip Gustavsson (hip) is out until at least late November, so the net belongs to Wallstedt for now. The Wild expected him to start 3 of the 4 games this week. Seattle is the front half of a back-to-back, with Vancouver the next night, so who starts Saturday is not settled yet.

Seattle is moving the other way. The Kraken are 7-3-1 and have won 2 straight at Climate Pledge Arena: a 4-3 shootout win over Detroit, then a 5-3 win over Utah in which they led after every period and scored 2 power-play goals. That came right after a rough Eastern road trip that ended with an 8-3 beating in Florida. At home they have looked like a different team.

The matchup that should decide Saturday is Seattle's power play against Minnesota's penalty kill. The Kraken just scored twice with the extra man against Utah. The Wild have now given up power-play damage in back-to-back losses, and against a team scoring 1 or 2 goals a night, a single power-play goal against is often the whole game. If Minnesota stays out of the box, it has a goalie who can steal one. If it doesn't, Wallstedt is going to rack up saves again in a losing effort.

Minnesota Wild
(6-3-2)
10/23L@Flames1-2
10/21L@Oilers3-4
10/18WvsBlue Jackets2-1
10/16WvsBlues5-4
10/14L@Jets2-5
Seattle Kraken
(7-3-1)
10/23WvsMammoth5-3
10/21WvsRed Wings4-3
10/17L@Panthers3-8
10/15L@Lightning3-4
10/13W@Flyers3-2

Minnesota's injury list is long and specific. Brock Faber is out indefinitely after surgery to repair a fractured skull, which takes the Wild's top minute-eater off the blue line. Both Foligno brothers, Marcus and Nick, are on injured reserve, and Maxim Shabanov is out. Nico Sturm did come back from a scary head injury during the Edmonton game, which gives Hynes back a bottom-6 center. Seattle is without Ryan Lindgren, Jake O'Brien and Jacob Melanson, and as of Wednesday Brandon Montour was listed day to day with a lower-body injury, so watch for him at morning skate.

Puck drops at 7:00 PM PT on Saturday, October 24. Hynes said after the Columbus win that this stretch of the schedule is about making the details automatic. That is a polite way of saying the Wild have been winning on goaltending and effort. Seattle at home, with its power play working, is a good test of whether the details have caught up.

Wild vs. Kraken: Polymarket Odds & Prediction (Oct. 24) — Wild Limp Into Seattle Riding Wallstedt and Very Little Offense · Barstool Bush