The Minnesota Wild (2-2) face the Columbus Blue Jackets (2-2) at home Saturday night with the hope of rebounding after a tough 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, which started their three-game homestand.
“We need to take another step forward,” head coach Dean Evason told the media Friday at practice, “and we’re looking to do that tomorrow night.”
To do that, the Wild must be better in their own zone. Through four games, the Wild have allowed a league-high 3.89 goals against per 60 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Wild have also allowed 2.69 expected goals against per 60 at five-on-five, the 10th most in the league.
“We have to tighten up defensively," Evason said. "We’ve given up too many goals, for sure.”
The Wild, outscored 12-8 at five-on-five so far, have to continue working on their defensive play without their captain and top blueliner Jared Spurgeon.
“We need everybody to step up on the backend as well,” Evason said.
Pat Maroon will get his first look with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson on the second line tonight. The Wild elevated him there and moved Sammy Walker to the fourth line alongside Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaime.
Filip Gustavsson is expected to get the start after backing up Marc-Andre Fleury the past two games. Gustavsson stole the home opener for the Wild with a 41-save shutout, but allowed seven goals on 33 shots in Toronto last Saturday.
Other Wild injuries: Matt Boldy (upper-body injury and week-to-week) and Alex Goligoski (lower-body injury, long-term injured reserve).
The Blue Jackets’ No. 1 defenseman in Zach Werenski returned to the lineup two games ago. Werenski suffered a season-ending injury last season. The bad news for Columbus though is Patrik Laine is out with an upper-body injury.
The Wild’s homestand ends on Tuesday night against the visiting Edmonton Oilers ahead of a three-game road trip.
Wild projected lines
Kaprizov – Hartman – Zuccarello
Johansson – Eriksson Ek – Maroon
Foligno – Rossi – Gaudreau
Walker – Dewar – Duhaime
Defensive pairs:
Brodin – Addison
Middleton – Faber
Merrill – Mermis
Starting goaltender: Gustavsson
CBJ projected lines
Jack Roslovic – Adam Fantilli – Alexandre Texier
Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson – Cole Sillinger – Emil Bemstrom
Justin Danforth – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier
Defensive pairs:
Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov – David Jiricek
Jake Bean – Erik Gudbranson
Starting goaltender: Elvis Merzlikins