Wild looking to continue surge against Hurricanes

The Minnesota Wild might have found something of a spark and will put it to the test against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at Raleigh, N.C.

The Wild's 3-2 overtime victory over the visiting Nashville Predators on Tuesday gave the team its first two-game winning streak of the season.

"I would say that the takeaway from a coaching perspective is that we understand we got the two points, which is important," Minnesota coach John Hynes said. "But then there's also dynamics of the game that we'd like to address prior to the (next) game."

Reaching that next level against a team like the Hurricanes will come with its challenges.

"We didn't play the way we wanted to, but at the same time you've got to find a way to win every game," Wild defenseman Zeev Buium said.

Carolina's 3-0 shutout of the host New York Rangers on Tuesday came behind goalie Pyotr Kochetkov's 25-save effort in his season debut. The Hurricanes had lost three of their previous four games.

"We needed that win for our group," coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I think we've been playing fine, but we hadn't really had a lot of results lately."

The Hurricanes have held their last three opponents to two or fewer goals.

On Thursday, center Jordan Staal will play in his 910th game with the Hurricanes, setting a record since the franchise relocated to North Carolina from Hartford, Conn. The captain is tied with his brother, now-retired Eric Staal, for most games played in a Carolina uniform.

Jordan Staal is third in games played across the duration of the franchise behind Ron Francis (1,186) and Glen Wesley (913).

While carrying three goalies, the Hurricanes allowed Frederik Andersen to skip the trip to New York. That presumably has him lined up to play Thursday against the Wild. Andersen was the team's primary goalie for the first month of the season.

Minnesota used Filip Gustavsson in net for the past four games. Last season, he notched two victories against the Hurricanes, including a 21-save shutout in Raleigh.

The Hurricanes will see if they can get more from winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who scored his first goal of the season against the Rangers.

"I've been waiting for that one for quite a while now," Ehlers said.

Brind'Amour said that Ehlers, who was considered a key offseason acquisition for the Hurricanes, has been trending in the right direction. He scored 24 goals last season for Winnipeg, with one of those goals coming against the Wild.

"It has been solid all year," Brind'Amour said of Ehlers' performance. "He should have had more action in the point department. It's nice for him to get off that. Now he can kind of relax and hopefully settle in. Need him to be contributing."

Minnesota has reached overtime in five games, including three of its last five outings.

Carolina will play five of its next six games at home where it is 3-1-0. The Hurricanes have scored 19 goals in their four home games.