Wild vs. Blackhawks: Sharpening Up
The Minnesota Wild are back on the road tonight for their final road game of the preseason against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Exactly one week away from the Wild's home opener against the Florida Panthers, Minnesota has trimmed it's roster down to 25 following some moves yesterday. With a game tonight against the Blackhawks, here's what to watch for.
1.) Balanced scoring
The Wild will start the season with the same top two lines as they finished last season. Ryan Hartman will center Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek will center Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson.
But this year, Marco Rossi will get the chance to center the third line with Marcus Foligno and Freddy Gaudreau on his left and right side. Look for that line to add some offense and provide the Wild with three balanced scoring lines.
The fourth line will be almost the same but will welcome a new addition in Pat Maroon. Connor Dewar will center Maroon and Brandon Duhaime. Ryan Reaves, who used to play on that line, left for free agency so Minnesota traded for Maroon to replace him.
2.) Goaltending is set
Minnesota will ride with the same goalie tandem as last year with Filip Gustavsson presumably at the top of the helm. Marc-Andre Fleury will serve as the starter tonight, leaving Gustavsson to start the final preseason game of the year on Saturday.
With that, it is expected Gustavsson will start the home opener against the Panthers on the 12th and could start the next game on the 14th against the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
That would leave Fleury to start against the Montreal Canadians in his hometown of Montreal, which would likely be the last time Fleury would get to play there.
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