The Minnesota Wild have gotten off to a solid start to their 2011-12 season, with their 4-3-3 mark giving them 11 points thus far. As you'd expect this early in the season, the Western Conference is pretty tightly bunched, with most teams only have played 10 or 11 games. This week, the Wild will take to the ice three times, with two of those games coming in the friendly confines of the XCel Energy Center.
The team will start the week on the road, however, as they travel to the Motor City to take on the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Even though it will only be the 11th game of the season for the Wild, it will be the third time they've faced the Red Wings already this year. The teams have split the first two games, both of which took place in St. Paul. Minnesota fell to Detroit 3-2 in overtime back on October 15, and Minnesota got revenge this past Saturday, shutting out Detroit by a final score of 1-0. The game will get underway at 6:30 PM Central time from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The Wild will then return home for a Thursday night clash with the Vancouver Canucks. Minnesota has faced the defending Western Conference champions once this year, back on October 22 in Vancouver, and lost to the Canucks by a final score of 3-2 in overtime. Start time for this one is set for 7:00 PM at the XCel Energy Center.
On Saturday, the Wild will host the St. Louis Blues. The Wild and Blues have not yet faced off this season, but Minnesota won three out of four contests against St. Louis last season. The puck will drop for this one at 7:00 PM Central time as well.
In case you can't make it to the XCel Energy Center for Thursday or Saturday's games, you can catch all of these games on television on Fox Sports North in glorious high definition. If you're not going to be near a television, you can hear the radio call on KFAN-FM 100.3, or any of the other affiliates of the Minnesota Wild Radio Network.