Pittsburgh @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 31, 2018 ) Pittsburgh 3, Minnesota 2

The Minnesota Wild hope that a bit of home cookin' will cure what ails them as they bid for their first victory of the season on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Minnesota began a campaign with three regulation losses for the first time in franchise history after dropping a 5-2 decision to Winnipeg on Thursday.

"They've been three road games against three tough teams," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said following his team's losses to Central Division rivals Nashville, Colorado and the Jets. "Granted, we would have liked to have won one or two of them. But now we get to go home. No excuses." Devan Dubnyk, who has limped out of the gate this season by yielding 11 goals on 93 shots this season, lost both encounters with Pittsburgh last season to fall to 5-7-0 in 12 career meetings. Jake Guentzel cleaned up a backhanded feed from superstar captain Sidney Crosby for the go-ahead goal on Thursday as the Penguins salvaged a split of their season-opening four-game homestand with a 2-1 victory over Anaheim. Crosby, who played at Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault (Minn.) in 2002-03, has recorded 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 17 career games against the Wild while Guentzel --- who played high school hockey at Hill-Murray in Maplewood (Minn.) -- had two assists versus Minnesota in the 2018-19 season series.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN-Plus, ATT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, FS North, FS Wisconsin (Minnesota)

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (2-2-0): Coach Mike Sullivan told reporters that he isn't interested in making wholesale changes even with team's injury list growing larger by the day. "I don't think we're going to change our identity or style of play. I think we're going to simplify our style of play," said Sullivan, who is without Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Nick Bjugstad and Alex Galchenyuk, among others. "When we do that, we're at our best regardless of who's in our lineup." Matt Murray is expected to be in the lineup on Saturday as he vies for his 100th career regular-season win.

ABOUT THE WILD (0-3-0): Eric Staal has yet to get untracked this season, as the soon-to-be 35-year-old has failed to record a point while his minus-7 rating is the second worst on the team (defenseman Jared Spurgeon, minus-8). "Just right now it's not comfortable as far as offensive confidence," Staal told the Minnesota Star Tribune. "But you've got to put in the work and the time, and it was better (Thursday)." Staal, however, has enjoyed considerable success versus Pittsburgh with 54 points (23 goals, 31 assists) in 55 career games while fellow forward Zach Parise has 40 (17 goals, 23 assists) in 52 encounters.

OVERTIME

1. Pittsburgh D Kris Letang has opened the season with a four-game point streak (one goal, three assists).

2. Wild general manager Bill Guerin captured three Stanley Cups with the Penguins, one as a player in 2009 and two more as assistant GM (2016, 2017).

3. Minnesota D Ryan Suter, who leads the team with three points this season, has just one goal in 17 career meetings with the Penguins.

PREDICTION: Wild 3, Penguins 2