It wasn’t until William Nylander, the ‘Breakaway Man,’ went toe-to-toe with fellow Swede and Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson on yet another chance in alone but striking the

Squaring off with nearly identical records entering Wednesday’s contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs were presented with a key opportunity to get out of a rut against a quality Minnesota Wild team, with a four-game road trip on the horizon before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Rielly has two points in his last 11 games with Toronto and admitted after Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Minnesota that he needs to be better.

Ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs' game on Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild, there are reports of a heavy scout presence in the arena raising trade speculation.

BOTTOM LINE: The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild hit the ice in a non-conference matchup. Toronto is 19-10-0 at home and 30-18-2 overall. The Maple Leafs have a 13-5-1 record when scoring a power-play goal.

Identifying the holes in the Leafs' lineup is fairly straightforward. Patching them at the trade deadline? Much less so.

The Minnesota Wild have the league's best road record at 18-5-3 this season and have already beat the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this season

Against Minnesota, William Nylander provided Toronto’s lone goal. The defeat marked the team’s third straight regulation loss, a tough stretch before the Maple Leafs embark on a four-game Western Canada trip leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off pause.

The Minnesota Wild took down the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, 3-1.

Minnesota fell back on depth, defense and Filip Gustavsson’s goaltending and improved its NHL-best road record.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups.