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.

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.

Jared Spurgeon and Marat Khusnutdinov scored in the first period, Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 shots, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Wednesday night. Marcus Foligno added an empty-netter in the final minute as Minnesota won its second straight to improve to 3-5-0 in their last eight games.

The Minnesota Wild survived without Kirill Kaprizov the first time, and they can do it again. That’s the message they sent Wednesday, when they upended the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at Scotiabank Arena to kick off Kaprizov’s second hiatus with their most convincing victory in weeks.

Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves as the Minnesota Wild edged Toronto 3-1 on Wednesday, sending the Maple Leafs to a third straight regulation loss.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made some crucial roster moves ahead of their game against the Minnesota Wild, activating Max Pacioretty and moving Matthew Knies to the IR. The Maple Leafs have been without forward Max Pacioretty since he went down against the Montreal Canadiens and placed on the IR retroactive to Jan.