CHICAGO — The Minnesota Wild (21-23-5) return to action tonight on the road against the Blackhawks (14-34-2) after their 10-day bye week and All-Star break.
“It's great to be back,” Freddy Gaudreau said Wednesday after morning skate. “Again, the break is good physically, of course. It's good mentally. It's good for everything I feel like. It kind of gives you outside perspective and calms everything down. And then come back and ready to go at it and dive into that last segment of the season strong.”
The Wild hope to bounce back tonight after entering the break on a sour note. The Wild suffered back-to-back regulation losses to the Nashville Predators and Anaheim Ducks in the final two games before the break after winning three in a row.
“We’re back and guys are refreshed and ready to go,” coach John Hynes said. “It's the best time of the year to be able to play. It’s the best time of the year to be able to give yourself the chance to be able to climb in and contend for the playoffs (and) play meaningful games down the stretch.”
The Wild need to capitalize tonight against Chicago — who are in the league's basement three points behind the 31st place San Jose Sharks — and start the second half of the season with two points. The urgency has risen because they're seven points behind the eighth-place St. Louis Blues with 33 games left.
Here's what you need to know:
• Jonas Brodin participated in morning skate, but he won't play tonight after missing practice on Monday and Tuesday due to sickness.
“This is the first day he’s felt OK,” Hynes said. “He hasn’t skated since Anaheim. He hasn’t eaten a lot. He was really sick, so we took him on the trip, see how he would be able to respond, but skate today. He’ll get some extra work. Skate tomorrow and then he should be ready to go for Pittsburgh. But gotta put him in the best position.”
• Declan Chisholm met the team in Chicago and also participated in morning skate, but he, too, won't draw into the lineup tonight. And Adam Beckman, who the Wild recalled on Monday, isn't playing either.
• The Wild activated Vinni Lettieri from injured reserve today. Lettieri returns to the lineup tonight after missing the past 15 games with a broken foot that he sustained in Winnipeg on Dec. 30.
• Connor Dewar and Pat Maroon (injured reserve) are the Wild's two injured players right now aside from Jared Spurgeon, who is out for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are significantly banged up right now with six players on injured reserve: forwards Connor Bedard, Taylor Hall, Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Beauvillier and defensemen Connor Murphy and Nikita Zaitsev.
• The Wild beat the Blackhawks 4-1 at home in their first and only meeting so far this season. The Wild are 4-6 in their past 10 contests, while the Blackhawks have lost four games in a row and eight of their past 10.
Wild projected lines
Kaprizov — Hartman — Zuccarello
Johansson — Eriksson Ek — Boldy
Foligno — Rossi — Gaudreau
Duhaime — Lucchini — Lettieri
Defense Pairs:
Middleton — Faber
Goligoski — Bogosian
Mermis — Merrill
Projected starter: Gustavsson
Blackhawks projected lines
Nick Foligno — Philipp Kurashev — Taylor Raddysh
Colin Blackwell — Jason Dickinson — Joey Anderson
Lukas Reichel — MacKenzie Entwistle — Tyler Johnson
Boris Katchouk — Zach Sanford — Ryan Donato
Defensive Pairs:
Alex Vlasic — Seth Jones
Kevin Korchinski — Jaycob Megna
Jarred Tinordi — Isaak Phillips
Projected starter: Petr Mrazek