The Islanders road trip chapter 2 is Saturday night in Minnesota, where Bill Guerin is riding high after acquiring Quinn Hughes while absorbing shots for not taking Your Favorite Player on the U.S. Olympic team that will play next month in the half-constructed rink in Italy.
The Wild are tied with Dallas at 60 points in the insane Central Division arms race: Runaway leader Colorado has 70 points while the top Pacific teams are 20 points behind. Basically, the Wild look destined for one of those devastating 2 vs. 3 first-round matchups with Dallas that gets people so worked up about the current playoff format.
Minnesota has only won five of its last 10 (plus three bonus-round losses) but they are in dangerous form with the addition of Hughes.
The Islanders, despite only getting a point in Nashville, enter the day hanging on to second place in the Metro by a point, but with more games played — and of course the Metro and East in general remains one big slog of meh teams that can be in the playoffs one day, teetering on the basement the next.