Wild at Kraken on Thursday
With a 3-1-and-2 road trip thus far, the Minnesota Wild continue to play strong hockey. They wrap up a season-long seven-game gauntlet in Seattle on Thursday night. The Wild are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Kings in Los Angeles on Monday night, their only regulation setback during the stretch.
“We’re playing a strong team game,” Wild head coach John Hynes told us Thursday morning. (see the whole 3-minute interview below). “We’re always, I think our guys are always committed when we don’t have the puck, to playing strong defense, and I think from an offensive perspective, adding (Quinn) Hughes to the team has certainly helped, but throughout the line-up we’re getting some depth scoring and our top guys are playing well.”
Minnesota has the third most points in the NHL, with 58, good for third place in the highly competitive Central Division.
While the Wild have been consistent all season, the Kraken juggernaut is more of a recent phenomenon. The club hasn’t lost yet in 2026, sandwiching two four-game win streaks around a shoot-out loss against the Canucks on December 29th. In other words, they’re 8-0-and-1 in their last nine games.
Facing a Wild team anxious to wrap up their long trip and jump on an airplane with a good feeling, the Kraken will see star defenseman Hughes in a Minnesota sweater for the first time since his trade from Vancouver on December 12th.
“He just adds an element that very few can add,” Seattle head coach Lane Lambert pointed out on Thursday morning. “Maybe Cale Makar (Avalanche), you’re looking at (Matthew) Schaefer on the Island (Islanders) right now. A player like that, I don’t want to leave anyone out, but there aren’t too many of them. He’s added a lot to them.”
Lambert pointed out that since Hughes arrived there, Minnesota’s expected goals per game has gone from 19th in the NHL to 5th.
Forward Marcus Johansson, who took a stick to his eye in Monday’s game against the Kings, is expected to play.
Kraken veteran winger Jordan Eberle is a game time decision. His issue wasn’t disclosed. He seemed in good spirits when we spoke about a different topic in the hallway after the skate.
Each of these teams are in third place in their respective divisions, with the Kraken just one point out of first place in the Pacific.
Earlier Kraken:
— ‘Grubi’ Stars; Kraken Win Again, 5-1 Over Flames
