The Wild are back in action tonight against the Washington Capitals and will kick off their first of three straight home games before the NHL All-Star break.
ST. PAUL - The Wild kick off a three-game homestand tonight against the Washington Capitals before the NHL All-Star break.
Good news for the Wild though as Freddy Gaudreau, who missed the last two games with an injury, will be back in the lineup tonight. Marc-Andre Fleury is still out with an upper-body injury but hasn't been ruled out to start any of the next two games.
Jon Merrill who has been a healthy scratch for the last four games will not play tonight. Alex Goligoski will play in his third straight game and is expected to stay with Zach Bogosian on the Wild's bottom pair.
There aren't any other changes for the Wild as the lines will be pretty much be the same as last game with the only change being Gaudreau in for Adam Raska.
The Capitals are just three points out of a playoff spot in the East but are 5-5-0 in their last ten games and have lost two straight games on the road. The Wild are six points out of a playoff spot and are 4-5-1 in their last ten games but have won their last two games.
Wild Projected Lines
Kaprizov - Rossi - Zuccarello
Boldy - Eriksson Ek - Foligno
Johansson - Hartman - Maroon
Duhaime - Lucchini - Gaudreau
Defense Pairs:
Brodin - Faber
Middleton - Mermis
Goligoski - Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Gustavsson
Scratched: F Adam Raska, D Jon Merrill
Capitals Projected Lines
Alex Ovechkin - Connor McMichael - Aliaksei Protas
Max Pacioretty - Dylan Strome - T.J. Oshie
Tom Wilson - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn - Nic Dowd - Nicolas Aube-Kuebel
Defense Pairs:
Martin Fehervary - John Carlson
Joel Edmundson - Nick Jensen
Trevor van Riemsdyk - Rasmus Sandin
Starting Goaltender: Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: F Hendrix Lapierre, F Matthew Phillips, D Alexander Alexeyev, D Ethan Bear