^{Utah closes out February with a clash with the Minnesota Wild}

Hopefully SEG+ will be cooperative so we can get a post-game recap!

Tonight, Utah welcomes the US Gold Medal opening scorer, Matt Boldy, and his Minnesota Wild for their first and only trip to the Delta Center this year. Previously, Utah beat the Wild 6-2 in Minnesota as part of their early 7 game win streak.

Minnesota is currently in second place in the Central Division, owns the second seed in the Western Conference playoff standings, and is tied for second most points in the NHL. Minnesota has creeped up on Colorado for top billing in the NHL as well, just 5 points from knocking the king off the hill.

Playing the top 2 teams in the league after a three week break is a tall task, though Minnesota is coming into town after facing the Colorado Avalanche in Denver yesterday.

Tonight marks the return of a certain Hughes brother, one that was directly responsible for the absence of Utah’s top center. Look for Utah to get chippy with him tonight.

What has Minnesota running Wild in the west?
Matt Boldy, Olympic hero has taken over the top goal scoring duties on the Wild, potting 34 already this year. Boldy is number three in the league at lighting the lamp, and is a massive reason that Minnesota is bullying their way to the top of the league.

Boldy however, is second on the team in points. The engine behind Minnesota’s success is Kirill Kaprizov. Kaprizov, NHL’s richest player, is 6th in the league in points scored – 32 goals and 40 points – and his points per game average has only increased with Hughes on the team. Kaprizov’s total production is up, including better power play performance, but his playmaking has been top notch since the addition of Quinn Hughes.

Quinn Hughes, since the trade, has flourished in Minnesota. The defenseman has put up an astonishing 35 points in just 27 games – including 14 power play assists. Hughes has more assists on power play goals than Utah has power play goals in that span. With 32 assists, Hughes’ offensive prowess is nearly unmatched by defensemen. He knows how to shoot, where to place shots, and most importantly, how to get shots through traffic – both on 5 v. 5 and on the power play.

Minnesota also has a solid situation in goaltending. Posting similar stats as Karel Vejmelka, starter Filip Gustavsson already posted 3 shutouts for the Wild. However, Gustavsson isn’t playing for Minnesota tonight. Backup Jesper Wallstedt, who has 4 shutouts, is playing instead.

Wallstedt is still a newer goaltender to the league; this is his third official season but he had played just 5 games prior to 2025-2026. Wallstedt posted his 4 shutouts early in the season, but the increased workload has made him shaky since December started. Overall, Wallstedt has had good games sandwiched in-between 6 goal shellings, so it’ll be interesting to see which Wallstedt shows up tonight.

Key points to secure a victory today:
WD-40 The level of rust on display against Colorado was impressive- if not also highly frustrating. Obvious issues like timing for Logan Cooley were off, including a drop pass that wasn’t dropped or passed particularly well. Bad play by Kevin Stenlund led directly to a goal. Missed defensive assignments let the dangerous Colorado offense run freely in the 2nd period.

The rust should be shaken off by now. Cooley should see a lot more crisp passing, better overall timing, and should be adjusted to the faster play than he’s used to during just practice.

Nate Schmidt and John Marino should be getting back to their defensive ways, after an abysmally bad anomaly of a game for them.

The rust needs to be completely gone for Utah to have a shot against one of the league’s best and hottest teams.

Unboxing The Utah power play didn’t miss a beat on Wednesday, going 1 for 5 including a failure to do anything with a 2 man advantage. Despite just a 77% kill rate for Minnesota, Utah’s anemic power play showed exactly what it can do in multiple opportunities on Wednesday. The Wild also boast 5 shorthanded goals – tied for 10th in the league. A power play for Minnesota doesn’t quite have the same chance of being scored on vs. scored against, but the odds aren’t that bad either.

Minnesota doesn’t have that problem on the advantage.

Minnesota went 2 for 6 against Colorado, but also scored a shorthanded goal (albeit an empty-net one). However, since the calendar change, Minnesota’s the 2nd best power play in the league. The Wild are 20 for 62 since January 1st, a 32.3% success rate. Utah has 26 total power play goals for the year.

Utah is not served on either side of the penalty box in this game. The Mammoth need a picture-perfect game from the referees’ points of view, otherwise they will be in big trouble.

Leaky Walls The one thing Jesper Wallstedt is that you don’t really know Jesper Wallstedt. He’s had a great start to the year, followed by a stretch of being overworked. Playing just 5 games in 2 years prior to this year, his 23 games this year (minus the game that counts yesterday – just a few minutes of play at the end of the game) have seemingly taken a bit of a toll on him.

Hot out the gate with 8 wins in 10 games (with 2 OTL’s), Wallstedt posted under 2 goals against average, with almost a .945 save percentage and all 4 shutouts. However, since that hot beginning, he’s been less than pedestrian. His .889 save percentage and 3.58 goals against per game has seen his stellar win-loss record plummet. 6-5-2 in his last 13, Wallstedt is not the unstoppable beast he was when he ran wild to start the season.

With 3 weeks off, however, and refreshed from the break, will Wallstedt return to early season form? He let up one goal in two shots against last night, but also got to see game speed play for the first time in a few weeks.

Utah needs to count on a tired Minnesota defense that left it all on the line against Colorado yesterday. Offensive pushes that break through and test Wallstedt early could lead to the confidence issues he seems to have had in his past 12 starts.

End of the day, you just need to score 1 more goal than your opponent. Not letting Wallstedt get into form is critical, since you know Boldy, Kaprizov, and Quinn are going to hurt you.

Projected Lineups:
For now: Carcone back in the lineup, Tanev out. McBain stays on the wing for Cooley and Guenther. Andre Tourigny said there will be some game-time lineup decisions.

Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Lawson Crouse
Jack McBain — Logan Cooley — Dylan Guenther
JJ Peterka — Barrett Hayton — Kailer Yamamoto
Alexander Kerfoot — Kevin Stenlund — Michael Carcone

Mikhail Sergachev — Sean Durzi
Nate Schmidt — John Marino
Ian Cole — Nick DeSimone

Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek

Game start 7 PM at the Delta Center or Utah 16 / SEG plus (hopefully!)

TUSKS UP!