Wild vs Flames: Game Preview
The Minnesota Wild are back home for a game against the Calgary Flames. Here's everything you need to know heading into the game.
The Wild are back home after their four-game road trip in Western Canada for two games at home. They play the Calgary Flames tonight followed by the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
One of their four games on the road trip came against the Flames. The Wild won that game 5-2 after a great night from Filip Gustavsson and Matt Boldy's two goals. In that game, the Wild had both Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin but tonight, only one week later, they will be without both of them.
Losing both Spurgeon and Brodin for tonight's game will weigh heavy on the Wild meaning both Brock Faber and Jake Middleton will need to step up for the Wild on the backend along with Dakota Mermis, Jon Merrill, Zach Bogosian, and Alex Goligoski.
Not like Faber and Middleton haven't stepped up all season though as Middleton is coming off a seven-blocked shot night in Seattle on Sunday and Faber currently leads all defensemen in the NHL in xGA/60.
It shouldn't just be those two defenders though, the whole team needs to step up and play a bit better defensively knowing that the two top defensive defensemen aren't in the lineup.
Gustavsson will start again for the Wild after his shutout against the Kraken on Sunday. Since November 18th, Gustavsson is 4-3-1 with one shutout. His .935 save percentage in that span is fifth in the NHL but his 1.63 goals-against average is second in the NHL behind Adin Hill who has only played in four games in that span to Gustavsson's eight.
Without Spurgeon or Brodin, the Wild recalled two defensemen from Iowa, Dakota Mermis and Daemon Hunt. Mermis will enter the lineup tonight, Hunt will not.
Wild projected lines
Kaprizov-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Johansson-Rossi-Zuccarello
Foligno-Gaudreau-Maroon
Duhaime-Dewar-Hartman
Defensive pairs:
Middleton-Faber
Mermis-Bogosian
Merrill-Goligoski
Starting goaltender: Gustavsson
Flames projected lines
Connor Zary - Elias Lindholm - Yegor Sharangovich
Andrew Mangiapane - Nazem Kadri - Dillon Dube
Jonathan Huberdeau - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
A.J. Greer - Adam Ruzicka - Martin Pospisil
Defensive pairs:
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar - Dennis Gilbert
Ilya Solovyov - Jordan Oesterle
Starting goaltender: Dan Vladar
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