No. 10 Wild vs. No. 7 Canucks
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, FS-N, FS-WI
The Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks will begin their best-of-5 series in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday.
The Wild won two of the three regular-season games against the Canucks this season, with forwards Kevin Fiala (two goals, one assist) and Luke Kunin (one goal, two assists) and defenseman Brad Hunt (one goal, two assists) leading them with three points each. Forward J.T. Miller led Vancouver with five points (three goals, two assists) in the three games.
The Wild are looking to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after failing to qualify last season for the first time since 2012. The Canucks haven't qualified for the playoffs since 2015.
There hasn't been a best-of-5 series in the NHL since 1986. The League used them for the preliminary round of the playoffs from 1980-86, and the team that won Game 1 went on to win the series 87.5 percent of the time (49 of 56).
Here are 3 keys for Game 1:
1. Minnesota's goaltending
Although it remains to be seen whether Alex Stalock or Devan Dubnyk will start, the Wild are confident in each goalie.
Stalock started and allowed three goals on 17 shots in 30:22 of ice time in a 3-2 exhibition loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. Dubnyk made 12 saves in 27:35.
"We got depth at the position in the organization," Stalock said after the game. "It's a battle for the job. We both want to be in there, but either one of us will give the team the chance to win."
2. Jacob Markstrom
Markstrom has played 272 regular-season NHL games but has yet to make a postseason appearance.
Markstrom made 30 saves on 33 shots for the Canucks in a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, his first game since he underwent a minor lower-body procedure on Feb. 26. He missed the last eight games before the NHL season was paused on March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
"He wants to win as bad as anyone else," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "We've got a lot of belief in him. He's fine. He's going to be great [Sunday]."
3. Postseason experience
In addition to Markstrom, forwards Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and defenseman Quinn Hughes are among the Vancouver players who have never played in an NHL postseason game. Captain Bo Horvat hasn't played in the postseason since his rookie season in 2014-15, when he had four points (one goal, three assists) in six games.
Still, the Canucks have 499 games of postseason experience, including in forwards Jay Beagle (Washington Capitals), Tyler Toffoli (Los Angeles Kings) and Tanner Pearson (Kings), who have each previously won the Stanley Cup.
The Wild have 623 games of postseason experience led by forward Zach Parise (97) and Eric Staal (58), who is the only player on Minnesota to have won the Cup (with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006).
"When you start getting to an older age in this League, you're running low on the opportunities. You've got to take advantage when the get the chance to," said Parise, who is 36. "… The motivation is high regardless (if you're a rookie or veteran)."
Wild projected lineup
Jordan Greenway -- Eric Staal -- Kevin Fiala
Zach Parise -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno -- Alex Galchenyuk -- Mats Zuccarello
Ryan Donato -- Mikko Koivu -- Ryan Hartman
Brad Hunt -- Carson Soucy
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched: Matt Bartkowski, Louie Belpedio, Luke Johnson, Kaapo Kahkonen, Gerald Mayhew, Brennan Menell, Victor Rask, Kyle Rau, Mat Robson, Nico Sturm
Unfit to play: Greg Pateryn
Canucks projected lineup
J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Tyler Toffoli
Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Micheal Ferland
Tyler Motte -- Jay Beagle -- Brandon Sutter
Quinn Hughes -- Christopher Tanev
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Oscar Fantenberg -- Tyler Myers
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched: Justin Bailey, Jordie Benn, Jalen Chatfield, Louis Domingue, Loui Eriksson, Tyler Graovac, Olli Juolevi, Zack MacEwen, Brogan Rafferty, Jake Virtanen
Unfit to play: Josh Leivo
Status report: The Wild are expected to dress the same 20 players as they did in their exhibition game Wednesday. … MacEwan, who played a team-low 5:15 and was the extra forward for the Canucks in their exhibition game Wednesday, will likely be scratched.
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