Game day: Leafs at Minnesota Wild

XCEL ENERGY CENTER

FACEOFF: 7 p.m. TV: CBC/Sportsnet RADIO: TSN 1050

KEY PLAYERS

Rielly/Dumba Two of the highest scoring defencemen in the NHL square off. Minnesota’s Matt Dumba led all NHL blueliners with 10 goals through Thursday, while Leaf Morgan Rielly was one behind. Dumba is easily on pace to surpass his total of 14 from a year ago, and the team record for goals by a defenceman (Brent Burns, 17 in 2010-11). Minnesota appears to have made a sound deal by locking up Dumba on a five-year, $30million (U.S.) deal prior to this season.

NEED TO KNOW

The Wild are 5-5-0 in their past 10 games after falling 4-2 to Columbus on Thursday night … This is a tough, veteran team led by Eric Staal, Mikael Granlund, Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter and Marcus Foligno. They are among the best checking teams in the NHL … In a 4-3 loss to Arizona on Tuesday, however, they held a three-goal lead in the third period before the last-place Coyotes came back with three unanswered goals in just over five minutes.

UP NEXT

Tuesday at Buffalo Sabres, 7:30 p.m.