Minnesota takes on Buffalo, looks for 7th straight home win

Buffalo Sabres (9-15-4, fifth in the Atlantic) vs. Minnesota Wild (19-8-1, first in the Central)

St. Paul, Minnesota; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

LINE: Wild -316, Sabres +247; over/under is 5.5

BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota hosts Buffalo aiming to extend its six-game home winning streak.

The Wild are 10-2-0 at home. Minnesota averages 10.4 penalty minutes per game, the third-most in the Western Conference. Marcus Foligno leads the team serving 48 total minutes.

The Sabres have gone 3-7-2 away from home. Buffalo has given up 14 power-play goals, killing 79.7% of opponent chances.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Ryan Hartman leads the Wild with a plus-20 in 28 games this season. Kirill Kaprizov has 14 points over the last 10 games for Minnesota.

Kyle Okposo has 19 total points while scoring six goals and totaling 13 assists for the Sabres. Jeff Skinner has four goals and three assists over the last 10 games for Buffalo.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 8-2-0, averaging four goals, 7.1 assists, 4.4 penalties and 9.4 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game with a .938 save percentage.

Sabres: 2-6-2, averaging 2.4 goals, four assists, 2.3 penalties and 6.7 penalty minutes while allowing 3.4 goals per game with a .903 save percentage.

INJURIES: Wild: Jonas Brodin: day to day (upper body).

Sabres: Dustin Tokarski: day to day (health protocols), Craig Anderson: out (upper body).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by