The Wild are back in action tonight for a game on the road. Here is everything you need to know before puck drop.
The Minnesota Wild (2-0-2) are back on the road tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets (2-2-0). It is the second meeting in the first five games of the season for these two teams.
Minnesota opened the season with a 3-2 win over the Blue Jackets on home ice. It is the second and final meeting between these two teams on the year.
The Wild will get both Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson back into the lineup tonight but will be without Jared Spurgeon for the third straight game.
Ryan Hartman is also considered a game time decision for the Wild tonight with an upper-body injury. If he does not play tonight, Marat Khusnutdinov will take his spot as the third line center.
Liam Ohgren will draw into the lineup to play fourth line right wing which will move Freddy Gaudreau to center. If Hartman plays, Khusnutdinov will go back down to the fourth line with Jakub Lauko and Gaudreau.
Here are tonight's projected lines for both teams (subject to change). The Blue Jackets look to be going with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen tonight.
Wild's Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Marco Rossi - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno - Marat Khusnutdinov - Yakov Trenin
Jakub Lauko - Freddy Gaudreau - Liam Ohgren
Defense:
Jake Middleton - Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin - Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill - Declan Chisholm
Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: Daemon Hunt, Ryan Hartman (upper-body), Jared Spurgeon (lower-body)
Injured: None
Blue Jackets' Projected Lines
Yegor Chinakhov - Sean Monahan - Kirill Marchenko
James van Riemsdyk - Adam Fantilli -
Mikael Pyyhtiä - Cole Sillinger - Justin Danforth
Zach Aston-Reese - Sean Kuraly - Mathieu Olivier
Defense:
Zach Werenski - Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen - Damon Severson
Jordan Harris - Jack Johnson
David Jiricek
Starting Goaltender: Daniil Tarasov
Scratches: Kevin Labanc
Injured: Boone Jenner (upper body), Dmitri Voronkov (upper body), Gavin Brindley (broken finger), Erik Gudbranson (upper body), Elvis Merzlikins (upper body), Kent Johnson (assumed upper body).
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Bally Sports North. Anthony LaPanta will be on the play-by-play with Ryan Carter and Kevin Gorg. The radio broadcast will be on KFAN FM 100.3 with Joe O'Donnell behind the mic doing the play-by-play. Tom Reid as the color analyst and Kevin Falness as the Studio Host.
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