The Wild are back in action tonight for their first of three games this week. Here is everything you need to know before puck drop.
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (31-27-7) host the Arizona Coyotes (26-34-5) tonight for their first of three games this week.
Marcus Johansson will return to the lineup tonight for the Wild with Adam Beckman drawing out of the lineup. Marcus Foligno was not on the ice for morning skate but is expected to play tonight.
Marc-Andre Fleury is 7-2-0 in his last 11 games played with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. He will start tonight for the Wild.
Karel Vejmelka will start for the Coyotes. Vejmelka is 3-2-0 with a 3.60 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage in five career games played against the Wild.
Marat Khusnutdinov was on the ice again for the Wild but will not play tonight. Yesterday Wild head coach John Hynes said Khusnutdinov would go through all the normal game-day activities as if he was playing just to try and get him acclimated.
But Khusnutdinov won't go on the ice for pre-game warmups. He wants his first time on the ice for pre-game warmups to be his first game so he can have a nice rookie lap.
The plan for Khusnutdinov is to continue to get him comfortable before playing him. He will likely play this week though.
Wild Projected Lines
Kaprizov - Eriksson Ek - Boldy
Zuccarello - Rossi - Hartman
Johansson - Gaudreau - Foligno
Shaw - Lucchini - Lettieri
Defense:
Middleton - Faber
Brodin - Bogosian
Merrill - Chisholm
Projected Starter: Fleury
Scratched: D Goligoski, D Mermis, & F Khusnutdinov
Injured: D Spurgeon
Coyotes Projected Lines
Clayton Keller - Barrett Hayton - Nick Schmaltz
Matias Maccelli - Nick Bjugstad - Alex Kerfoot
Lawson Crouse - Logan Cooley - Dylan Guenther
Michael Carcone - Jack McBain - Liam O'Brien
Defense:
JJ Moser - Sean Durzi
Juuso Valimaki - Michael Kesselring
Victor Soderstrom - Josh Brown
Projected Starter: Karel Vejmelka
Scratched: F John Leonard
Injured: F Travis Boyd D Travis Dermott
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