Wild Warmup: Minnesota at N.Y. Rangers

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
NEW YORK CITY -- When the Wild takes to the ice at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, it will do so with designs on extending a lengthy point streak as well as a three-game winning streak.
But it won't be easy against a New York Rangers club that is one of the best in the Eastern Conference and will be playing on what promises to be an emotional night, as the Rangers will retire the jersey number of former netminder Henrik Lundqvist.
One of the most popular players in franchise history,
Lundqvist is a close friend of Wild forward
Mats Zuccarello and is the winningest European goaltender in NHL history.
The current edition of the Rangers has a pretty good import as well, as Minnesota will run up against Igor Shesterkin. His 2.07 goals-against average and .937 save percentage are each among the top-5 in the NHL, as is his three shutouts, which rank tied for fourth-most. In 26 appearances this season, Shesterkin has a 20-4-2 record.

The Wild, meanwhile, have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL offensively and is coming off an 8-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night. During its seven-game point streak dating back to Jan. 6, the Wild hasn't scored fewer than three goals in a game and has topped four four times, averaging more than 4.7 goals per game during that stretch.
And while the Wild offense has been great during the current streak, Minnesota could be getting a big-time piece of its defensive core back, as Jonas Brodin appears ready to return to the lineup. Getting back Brodin, who has missed the past six games with a broken hand, means the Wild will have its full top-4 back.
Brodin's return comes at a good time, as the Wild will be without Jon Merrill after the veteran blueliner was added to the COVID-19 protocol list on Wednesday. Merrill is the only defenseman who has played in all 38 games for the Wild this season.
With Brodin back and Merrill out, the Wild will continue to roll with Jordie Benn on the backend. Benn scored his first goal in a Wild uniform versus the Habs on Monday and has played at least 17 minutes per game in each of his past six contests after doing so just twice in his first 15 matches.
In addition to Merrill, Nico Sturm was added to the protocol list and is not on the trip. Like Merrill, Sturm is one of just five players to have not missed a game this season. The timing for Sturm is also unfortunate, as he is coming off a three-point night against Montreal where he scored a goal and chipped in two assists.
With Sturm on the shelf for at least a couple of games, Kyle Rau was recalled from Iowa and added to the taxi squad. Rau has been almost a point-per-game guy in the American Hockey League this season and can play both center or wing.

Minnesota will have goaltender Cam Talbot available after he left the Montreal game at the start of the third period. Talbot stopped 14 of 15 shots through 40 minutes in what was his first game back from an injury sustained in the Winter Classic. And while the injury was the same this time around, it occurred in a different location and wasn't as severe.
Wild coach Dean Evason said Talbot could have returned for the third, but with Minnesota ahead 5-1 at the time, thought resting his No. 1 was the more prudent choice.
Talbot has practiced the past couple of days and indicated Thursday before the team departed for New York that he is feeling better.
New York will be playing on the second of back-to-backs after skating to a 5-3 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night in Columbus. The defeat came at a potential cost as well, as defenseman Adam Fox - second in the NHL with 40 assists - left the game because of injury and is day-to-day.
The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game before watching the Blue Jackets rattle off the next four goals to take a two-goal lead into the third period. Artemi Panarin, Barclay Goodrow and Mika Zibanejad had goals for the Rangers, who also got 14 saves from goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.