STOCKHOLM — The list of reasons Saturday night will be special for Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson is wide and varied.

For one, the Wild will be taking on his former team, the Ottawa Senators. Gustavsson broke into the NHL with the Senators before being sent to Minnesota in a July 2022 trade. This will mark the second time he has squared off against his former teammates.

“They didn’t want me, so hopefully we can beat them tomorrow,” Gustavsson.

Another reason?

The Wild will be playing at Avicii Arena — the game starts at 5 p.m. local time, 10 a.m. CT —  which is a globe-shaped dome often used by the Swedish national team. Gustavsson has never played there.

“It’s one of the most iconic buildings here in Sweden,” the Swedish netminder said.

And most importantly, he’ll have a robust cheering section filled with some of the people he holds most dear in his life. Gustvasson’s hometown of Skellefteå is nearly 500 miles north of Stockholm, but he plans to have lots of friends and family members in the stands, including his grandparents.

They last had a chance to watch him play live back when he played in the Swedish Hockey League for Luleå HF around five years ago, meaning Saturday will afford them their very first chance to watch him play in the NHL.

“It’s what you dreamt of growing up,” he said. “You always wanted to play in the NHL and then doing it here in Sweden in front of all my family and my grandparents that maybe don’t have the possibility to fly over to North America, it’s going to be awesome.”

The Wild have had a long layoff — they have not played a game since Sunday, flying to Sweden late Monday night and spending the next few days adjusting — and Gustvasson hasn’t seen game action since Nov. 10.

But he’s more than ready for Saturday’s long-awaited tilt, an important one for a Wild team that is aiming to snap a three-game skid, and one that promises to be special on a personal level.

“That was the whole mindset all the time we were coming here — to go get four points and get back home with great confidence,” Gustavsson said. “Obviously we had time to go out and see the city, showing off the Swedish culture, and now we’re just having our work, our normal work to do.”

Briefly

The Wild are getting closer to welcome Freddy Gaudreau back to the lineup. It could come on Sunday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Gaudreau has been out since Oct. 24 with an upper-body injury. He is currently on the long-term injured reserve list. “Gauds should play Sunday, but we’ll see,” coach Dean Evason said. … Evason said that as of Friday morning, they hadn’t made a decision yet on Sunday’s goaltender though they have a quick turnaround. They play two games in less than 24 hours with Sunday’s game starting at 2 p.m. local time. … The Wild had Thursday off and many players spent the day out and about exploring Stockholm. Forward Marcus Foligno filled some of his time by taking a private tour of the Vasa Museum, which features a preserved 17th century ship which sank in 1628. “I was just kind of in shock,” Foligno said. “… It doesn’t feel real, and kind of hard to wrap your head around (the fact) that someone built that.”

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