Montreal @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 17, 2019 ) Minnesota 0, Montreal 4

The Minnesota Wild are still seeking answers during a rough start to the season and hope to begin finding some solutions when they open a brief two-game homestand Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens. The Wild, who also host Edmonton on Tuesday, have managed one victory and 14 total goals while losing six of the first seven games after registering 17 shots in a 4-0 loss at Montreal on Thursday.

Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said some of the players are trying too hard instead of simplifying things and captain Mikko Koivu told reporters: “We keep saying it’s 60 minutes and this and that, but to me it’s every single day. I don’t care if it’s practice, if you keep doing things the right way it will pay off, and obviously we’re not doing that right now.” The Wild saw a nine-game winning streak against the Canadiens come to an end Thursday, but have won the last six matchups against them at Minnesota including a 7-1 rout last season as defenseman Matt Dumba scored twice. Montreal comes to the Xcel Energy Center with three wins in its last four games after conquering the reigning Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Saturday afternoon as 11 players made the scoresheet. Brendan Gallagher, who has 299 career points, scored six seconds into the second period to break a 1-1 tie and the Canadiens added two more goals in the session.

TV: 5 p.m. ET, TSN, RDS (Montreal), FS North, FS Wisconsin (Minnesota)

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (4-2-2): Left wing Jonathan Drouin notched one of Montreal’s two power-play goals Saturday and has made the scoresheet in seven of eight games to share the team lead in points (eight) with Gallagher and Max Domi. Defenseman Shea Weber recorded his first goal of the season in the final minute and also had an assist with a plus-2 rating against St. Louis to push his season total to five points. Carey Price made 32 saves Saturday to move past Sean Burke (324) for 27th on the NHL’s all-time list for wins, but could give way to backup Keith Kinkaid (0-0-1) against the Wild.

ABOUT THE WILD (1-6-0): Defensemen Brad Hunt (two goals), Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter lead the club with four points apiece and bottom-six banger Marcus Foligno tops all the forwards with three. Jason Zucker, Zach Parise and Luke Kunin have all scored twice, while fellow forward Mats Zuccarello (zero points, minus-6 rating) was placed on the injured list because of a lower-body injury and veteran center Gabriel Dumont was recalled. Goalie Devan Dubnyk, who is expected to be in net for Sunday’s contest, has lost each of his first five starts and allowed 20 goals on 150 shots.

OVERTIME

1. Montreal RW Joel Armia (four goals, one assist, plus-3 rating) suffered a lower-body injury in warmups Saturday and was scratched.

2. Minnesota F Joel Eriksson Ek (one assist) is expected to be out 1-to-2 weeks after suffering a lower-body injury Thursday when he blocked four shots.

3. The Canadiens, who were 30th in the league on the power play last season (13.2 percent), are off to an 8-for-31 start in 2019-20.

PREDICTION: Canadiens 3, Wild 2