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The Wild took considerable confidence into their regular-season opener Thursday night against the Florida Panthers, the Eastern Conference entrant in last season鈥檚 Stanley Cup Final.

In that sense, head coach Dean Evason said in the leadup, they鈥檙e no different than every other team in the NHL.

鈥淥n paper, everybody I鈥檓 sure is very pleased with what their roster shows, but now they鈥檝e got to play the games and see how the games go,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure every team feels the exact same as us, optimistic, and that they have a hockey club that can win the Stanley Cup. We鈥檙e no different.鈥�

The Wild finished third in the Central Division with 103 points, no mean feat in the Western Conference, especially considering they started last season 1-4-0 in the first five games.

鈥淲e had a really good record again last year; the thing we have to clean up is our start,鈥� left wing and alternate captain Marcus Foligno said. 鈥淪o, we have a chance to redo it, get off on the right foot. I think winning that first game is just something that gives you that extra shot in the arm for the season.鈥�

After Thursday鈥檚 opener, the Wild fly to Toronto for a Saturday game against a Maple Leafs team that finished last season with 111 points, followed by a Tuesday game at Montreal.

As the Wild showed last season, bad starts aren鈥檛 season-killers. But good ones can make up for a lot of lulls. Minnesota鈥檚 only division-winning team, the 2007-08 Wild team that won the old Northwest, started the season 10-2-0.

鈥淲e talked about it,鈥� Evason said. 鈥�(General manager) Billy (Guerin) came in and talked about it, and we talked about it with the group as a coaching staff. And the players have talked about it.

鈥淥bviously, we had to dig a little bit at the start of the year. Do we want to get off to a great start? Absolutely.鈥�

Filip Gustavsson got the start in Thursday鈥檚 opener, understandable considering he was statistically the second-best goaltender in the NHL last season, going 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.

After Thursday, there is no set plan for how to use Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury, Evason said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no set structure. There鈥檚 no thought process right now of who鈥檚 playing Game 2.鈥�

Fleury, who turns 38 on Nov. 19, is closing in on some big-time NHL milestones, from playing his 1,000th career game (he needs 15) to catching Patrick Roy for second all-time in regular season wins (he needs seven).

None of that will factor into the coaching staff鈥檚 goaltending decisions. Evason, in fact, said Thursday it hasn鈥檛 even come up in conversation.

鈥淚 spoke to everybody the last couple of days in our meetings, and talked to Flower and to Gus and said the exact same things as we鈥檝e said every year,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hoever鈥檚 playing well in games and helping the hockey club win, they鈥檙e going to play.鈥�

With Fleury contemplating retirement after his contract at the end of this season, Tuesday could be his last game in his native Quebec.

The Wild recalled defenseman Dakota Mermis from AHL Iowa and he will travel with the team to Toronto and Montreal, Evason said. Mermis, 29, has a goal and three assists to go with a plus-7 rating in 27 career NHL games with Arizona, New Jersey and Minnesota.

The Wild signed him as a free agent on Oct. 9, 2020. He registered five goals among 26 points and a plus-nine rating in 63 games last season in Des Moines and was one of the last five players let go from training camp ahead of the preseason finale Saturday against Dallas.