The Wild sought to take advantage of a Leafs squad without their star Auston Matthews, and wash the taste of the 2nd Period in Boston out of their mouths. No one more so than Devan Dubnyk, who was scheduled for a night off until Alex Stalock left the team to be with his wife Felicia for the birth of their second child. Mike Reilly was a late scratch for the Wild which gave Guytav Olofsson a chance to start.
The two teams played evenly for the first 10 minutes which featured a lot of dump and chase and shots from the blue lines.