Both teams have demonstrated that they keep a tight ship to open games. Utah has the second-lowest GIFT rate in the league at 45%, a percentage that rises only slightly to 47% when on the road. Utah specializes in low-event hockey to open a match.

Minnesota is another team that’s kept things quiet to open games with the sixth-lowest GIFT rate at 51%. The Wild might be excited to get Karill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back from injury, but don’t expect either to be at game speed just yet, Kaprizov hasn’t played since December 23 and Spurgeon has been out since December 31, they’ll be rusty and won’t impact the game until later into proceedings.