The Minnesota Wild are playing their best hockey of the season in January, riding a six-game point streak into Thursday’s matchup in Pittsburgh.
Extending that point streak against the Penguins seems likely with Bruce Boudreau on the bench.
Boudreau owns a career record of 17-5-4 against the Pens -- including a perfect 3-0 mark in Minnesota -- the third-highest winning percentage for any coach against Pittsburgh in the franchise’s 50 years of existence.
| COACH | RECORD | WIN% |
| Bob McCammon | 20-5-2 | .778 |
| Glen Sather | 28-9-1-0 | .750 |
| Bruce Boudreau | 17-5-4 | .731 |
| Scotty Bowman | 68-23-14-0 | .714 |
| Don Cherry | 14-4-6 | .708 |
Expanding it further, the Wild have won their last four games against Eastern Conference foes, outscoring Florida, Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Ottawa a combined 19-6 in January.
That run bumps the Wild’s record to 13-6-3 against the East this season.
A trip to Pittsburgh is also good news for goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who’s been standing on his head against Pennsylvania teams this season. Two of his three shutouts have come against the Philadelphia Flyers, and he also allowed just one goal to the Penguins in a 2-1 win Oct. 28.
NOTABLE
-- Sidney Crosby has scored at least one point in his last eight games, the 16th points streak of at least eight games in his career.
-- Wild forward Jason Zucker has a streak of his own, too. Zucker has tallied a point in five consecutive contests and a goal in four straight, becoming the first Wild player since Marian Gaborik in 2006-07 to have multiple 4+ game goal streaks in a season.
-- The Penguins’ penalty kill ranked 26th in the NHL’s opening two months, but it ranks second in December and January with 92.5 percent of their penalties killed.
-- Former Gophers forward Phil Kessel has 55 points in Pittsburgh’s opening 50 games, his best start to a season in his career. He’s tallied 31 of his 55 points on the power play.
-- Pittsburgh currently sits in the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed, but they were the seventh seed through 50 games in 2015-16 -- the first of the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup seasons.
Statistics courtesy STATS
