Wild look to turn it around after three straight losses, with the New Jersey Devils in town tonight. Get caught up with a game preview.
The Wild are back home after a three-game road trip where they dropped all three games. The last game the Wild played was on Sunday when they lost 4-3 to the Devils after surrendering two power-play goals to New Jersey.
Only big change in tonight's game is Matt Boldy will play for the Wild after missing seven straight games with an upper-body injury. Boldy will enter the lineup exactly where he left off, on the second line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson.
That will bump Pat Maroon down to the third line where he will play with Marco Rossi and Marcus Foligno. After a disappointing road-trip, Wild head coach Dean Evason said after the game against the Capitals that Rossi deserves more ice-time.
"So good, Evason told the media. "He keeps getting better and better every game. He's indicating to us that he's going to play more."
With the top line still intact and now Boldy returning to the second line, it is hard to imagine Rossi will actually get more ice time but he has been working on the penalty kill and still get's second power play minutes. If this Wild losing streak continues I would think Evason would consider moving Rossi up from the line he's currently on or give him top power play minutes.
But rewarding him with more ice-time will be put on pause tonight as the Wild's top power play unit will be Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, and Calen Addison, putting Rossi on the second unit with Foligno, Maroon, Ryan Hartman, and Jonas Brodin.
If the result is the same tonight, there needs to be a change and just putting Boldy on the second line shouldn't be the only change. Now if all four lines play great and it works then you keep it.
I know this is game ten of 82 but if this is how the Wild keep playing by game 15 or 20, you have to change something up and it should start with your 2020 ninth overall pick and former No. 1 prospect, Marco Rossi, who has been playing phenomenal recently.
Wild Projected lines
Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Foligno-Rossi-Maroon
Duhaime-Dewar-Lettieri
Defense pairs:
Brodin-Faber
Middleton-Mermis
Merrill-Addison
Projected Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Devils Projected lines
Toffoli-Hughes-Meier
Palat-McLeod-Bratt
Mercer-Haula-Lazar
Hotlz-Tierney-Bastian
Defense pairs:
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Bahl-Marino
Smith-Hughes
Projected Starting Goaltender: Vitek Vanecek