Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center

As the Minnesota Wild prepare to host the Buffalo Sabres at the Xcel Energy Center, fans can anticipate an engaging matchup. The Wild have shown a resilient performance in their recent games, with a notable victory against the Philadelphia Flyers where they secured a win in overtime. This triumph was backed by an impressive 93 percent save rate from their goaltender and a decisive powerplay goal, contributing to their three-point finish.

Despite this success, Minnesota's previous away game against the Tampa Bay Lightning highlighted areas for improvement. The team suffered a loss with only two points scored and faced challenges in both faceoff win percentage and penalty minutes. However, they managed to maintain strong shorthanded play by scoring one goal during these situations.

The upcoming game presents an opportunity for Minnesota to capitalize on their home advantage at Xcel Energy Center. With recent statistics showing solid goaltending and effective special teams play—particularly on powerplays where they achieved two goals from six shots—the Wild are poised to leverage these strengths.

Fans should look out for how Minnesota will address faceoff battles after mixed results in past games and whether they can minimize penalties which have been notably high against both Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.

The match is scheduled for January 29th at 02:00 AM UTC at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, USA. Fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or BSN (channel 668) for local viewers or BSWI (channel 669), while away supporters can tune into MSG-B (channel 635-1).