Minnesota Wild (15-8-5, 35 pts) at Vancouver Canucks (10-15-3, 23 pts)
Venue: Rogers Arena
Date: Saturday, December 6
Time: 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT

TV: ESPN+ / FanDual Sports Network / Sportsnet
Radio: 
Minnesota Wild – KFAN 100.3 FM
Vancouver Canucks – Sportsnet 650 AM

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Minnesota Wild -1.5 ML -135
Vancouver Canucks +1.5 ML +114
O/U 5.5

Minnesota Wild News and Notes:

After twelve straight games earning a point, the Minnesota Wild suffered a huge 1-4 loss to a struggling Calgary Flames team on Thursday. Minnesota is still solidly holding onto the third place position in the Central Division with 35 points. Although the Wild has had great success with just one game without a point in the month of November, their ability to find the back of the net as of late has been stalled, only scoring four goals in the last three games. With an inexperienced goaltender in between the pipes for the Vancouver Canucks and a depleted roster due to injuries, tonight’s game is a great opportunity for the Minnesota Wild to not only get back in the win column but also find some consistency in scoring.

Vancouver Canucks News and Notes:

The Vancouver Canucks have entered tank mode and have had just three wins in the last month. It was more of the same in the Rogers Arena last night, as the Vancouver Canucks suffered another dominant loss, this time in a 1-4 game against the Utah Mammoth. Sitting in last place in the Western Conference, they have been even more inconsistent with finding the back of the net than the aforementioned Minnesota Wild, scoring just three goals in the last three games. Vancouver’s back is up against the wall, facing the Minnesota Wild for the first time since November 1st, when the Canucks took a 2-5 loss. Their season isn’t completely done as they sit just seven points back from a wild card, but they have to either fully commit to a tank, recognize the lack of success, or there has to be a major confidence switch in the locker room.

Minnesota Wild Projected Lines:

Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Trenin-Sturm-Tarasenko
Ohgren-Jones-Pitlick

Brodin-Faber
Middleton-Spurgeon
Buium-Bogosian

Gustavsson
Wallstedt

Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines:

DeBrusk-E. Pettersson-Karlsson
Boeser-Kampf-Garland
O’Connor-Sasson-Sherwood
Bains-Raty-Lekkerimaki

Hughes-Hronek
M. Pettersson-Myers
E. N. Pettersson-Willander

Tolopilo
Lankinen

Players to Watch

Minnesota Wild:

Although the production has been there recently, it has been overall for the top of the Minnesota Wild lineup. Two players in the top 25 in points are Kirill Kaprizov, with 17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points, and Matt Boldy, with 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points. While veteran forward Vladimir Tarasenko returned from injury on November 29th against the Buffalo Sabres. With no points quite yet through three games back, the the former Stanley Cup winning sniper is a sneaky pick to find some momentum against a struggling Vancouver Canucks squad.

Vancouver Canucks:

Fourth-string goaltender Nikita Tolopilo is slotted to make his fifth career start and third start of the 2025-26 season for the Vancouver Canucks tonight, taking on the Minnesota Wild. He was able to beat the odds, grabbing his sole win of the season against the Anaheim Ducks in a 5-4 win on November 26th. Although he suffered a 2-3 loss against the San Jose Sharks on November 28th, he takes over the crease for the first time in two weeks. In a fairly stagnant offense over the past few matchups, fourth liner Aatu Raty has found some consistency with two points in the last two games. With the Canucks’ heavy hitters slowed down as of late, the sleepers deep in the lineup, like Raty, are going to have to keep producing at a solid rate.

Injury Report:

Calgary Flames:

C Danila Yurov – Day to Day
C Marco Rossi – IR
LW Marcus Foligno – IR
RW Vinnie Hinostroza – IR

Vancouver Canucks:

LW Evander Kane – Day to Day
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph
C Filip Chytil – IR
C Teddy Blueger – IR
G Thatcher Demko – IR
D Guillaume Brisebois – IR
D Jett Woo – IR
D Derek Forbort – LTIR
LW Nils Hoglander – LTIR

Next Game:

Minnesota Wild: Monday, December 8 at Seattle Kraken – 10pm ET
Vancouver Canucks: Monday, December 8 vs Detroit Red Wings – 10pm ET

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