Here is everything you need to know before puck drop against the Dallas Stars.
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (11-2-3) are back in action tonight to host the Dallas Stars (10-5-0) for the first time this year.
The Wild are a bit banged up tonight. They will be without Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, and Jonas Brodin. Three very important players.
Wild head coach John Hynes said that both Eriksson Ek and Brodin will skate on Monday with the Wild and they will find out if both will go on the road trip or not.
Zuccarello will remain out for a month or more. Without Eriksson Ek tonight, the Wild will turn to Matt Boldy who will be the team's No. 1 center.
Mikey Milne will make his NHL debut tonight against the Stars and will play on the fourth line.
"Yeah, I’m super excited. I’ve been working hard all year, and to get this opportunity, I can’t wait," Milne said. "Saturday night, State of Hockey, couldn’t ask for much more, so I’m fired up."
Liam Ohgren is back as well and will get a chance in the top six for the Wild.
Filip Gustavsson will start again for the Wild tonight. It will be his fourth consecutive start. Gustavsson is 8-2-2 on the year with a 2.08 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 12 games.
Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).
Wild Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Matt Boldy - Marcus Johansson
Liam Ohgren - Freddy Gaudreau - Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno - Marco Rossi - Yakov Trenin
Jakub Lauko - Marat Khusnutdinov - Mikey Milne
Defense:
Jake Middleton - Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm - Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill - Zach Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: Daemon Hunt
Injured: Jonas Brodin (upper), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower), Mats Zuccarello (lower)
Stars Projected Lines
Jason Robertson - Roope Hintz - Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment - Tyler Seguin - Matt Duchene
Wyatt Johnston - Jamie Benn - Logan Stankoven
Mavrik Bourque - Sam Steel - Oskar Back
Defense:
Esa Lindell - Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley - Ilya Lyubushkin
Brendan Smith - Matt Dumba
Starting Goaltender: Jake Oettinger
Scratched: Colin Blackwell, Nils Lundkvist
Injured: None
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Fanduel Sports Network North. Anthony LaPanta will be on the play-by-play with Wes Walz as the color analyst and Kevin Gorg a reporter. 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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