Florida Panthers (32-10-5, second in the Atlantic) vs. Minnesota Wild (30-11-3, second in the Central)
St. Paul, Minnesota; Friday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Two of the NHL's top scorers, Kirill Kaprizov and Jonathan Huberdeau, meet when Minnesota and Florida square off. Kaprizov ranks eighth in the NHL with 57 points and Huberdeau ranks third in the league with 64 points.
The Wild have gone 16-3-1 in home games. Minnesota averages 11.3 penalty minutes per game, the third-most in the league. Brandon Duhaime leads the team serving 63 total minutes.
The Panthers are 9-7-5 on the road. Florida averages 11.1 points per game to lead the Eastern Conference, recording 4.1 goals and 7.0 assists per game.
In their last meeting on Nov. 20, Florida won 5-4. Frank Vatrano scored a team-high two goals for the Panthers in the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kaprizov has 57 total points for the Wild, 22 goals and 35 assists. Mats Zuccarello has three goals and 13 assists over the last 10 games for Minnesota.
Huberdeau leads the Panthers with 64 points, scoring 17 goals and collecting 47 assists. Sam Bennett has seven goals and two assists over the last 10 games for Florida.
LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 8-1-1, averaging 4.2 goals, 7.4 assists, 5.4 penalties and 14.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.1 goals per game with a .937 save percentage.
Panthers: 7-3-0, averaging 4.4 goals, 7.3 assists, four penalties and 8.6 penalty minutes while allowing 2.8 goals per game with a .913 save percentage.
INJURIES: Wild: None listed.
Panthers: Jonas Johansson: out (covid-19), Markus Nutivaara: out (undisclosed).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press
