Game 12: Minnesota Wild vs New York Islanders game preview along with the line combos for both teams.
The Wild started last game rough when they allowed the first three goals of the game on four shots. They rebounded and eventually walked away with a 5-4 overtime win against the New York Rangers at home.
Tonight the Wild hope to bring the momentum they had in the last two periods into the a full game against the Islanders. Minnesota (4-5-2), are set face off against the Islanders (5-2-3), on the road at UBS Arena for the first of three games on the road.
They will play tonight still without their captain, Jared Spurgeon. But Spurgeon did travel with the team and could play in one of the next two games on the road trip. The Wild play a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday so it is likely Spurgeon will play in one of the two rather than both.
Jon Merrill will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game as the rookie defender Daemon Hunt will draw in for his second straight game. The Wild also called up forward Nic Petan for the road trip as extra insurance.
For the Islanders, Semyon Varlamov will start in goal. Varlamov is 13-14-1 against the Wild in his career with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage in 29 games played.
Fleury will start for the Wild and is 27-12-1-5 in 47 games with a goals against average of 2.44 and a save percentage of .918 against the Islanders in his career.
Wild projected lines
Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy
Johansson-Hartman -Zuccarello
Foligno-Eriksson Ek-Maroon
Duhaime-Dewar-Lettieri
Defensive pairs:
Brodin-Faber
Middleton-Mermis
Hunt-Addison
Projected starter: Fleury
Injured: Spurgeon, Goligoski and Gaudreau; Merrill scratched
Islanders projected lines
Anders Lee - Mathew Barzal - Oliver Wahlstrom
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Defensive pairs:
Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock
Scott Mayfield - Sebastian Aho
Projected starter: Semyon Varlamov