Wild face a scorching Penguins squad as desperation for wins mounts. Gustavsson aims to halt Pittsburgh's momentum in a game packed with familiar faces.
ST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild (3-5-3) is back in action tonight to host the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins (7-2-2). The Wild are looking to get back in the win column. They are losers of seven of their last eight games.
Filip Gustavsson will make his second consecutive start tonight for the Wild. He is 2-5-1 on the season with a 3.42 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage in eight games.
Tristian Jary will start for the Penguins tonight. He has had quite the turnaround since being placed on waivers last season. Jarry is 4-1-0 on the season with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage in five games.
The Wild will roll out the same lines and pairings for tonight's game. They played their first full 60 minute game on Tuesday but still found a way to lose.
“Yeah, I mean, I thought so, right? It’s like one of those things where if we play that same game 10 times over, I think we have a good chance of winning a lot of those games," Faber said after the Wild's loss on Tuesday. "It sucks. It stings. We just gotta get back to it and stick with it. Like I said, it should turn our way at some point.”
Assuming the Wild play the same game tonight, they should find success even against a red-hot Penguins team.
There are a lot of Minnesota connections in this game tonight for the Wild and Penguins. Connor Dewar, Justin Brazeau and Matt Dumba will all play for the Penguins. All three of them played for the Wild.
Tommy Novak and Blake Lizote are both from Minnesota. Fleury who is shadowing Wild general manager Bill Geurin spent years with the Penguins. As did Guerin. Wild player development advisor Alex Goligoski also played for the Penguins. They will all be in attendance tonight.
Wild Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Marco Rossi - Marcus Johansson
Vladimir Tarasenko - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno - Ryan Hartman - Vinnie Hinostroza
Yakov Trenin - Danila Yurov - Tyler Pitlick
Defense:
Jake Middleton - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber
Zeev Buium - David Jiricek
Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: Ben Jones, Dameon Hunt.
Injured: Mats Zuccarello (lower-body), Nico Sturm (back), Zach Bogosian (lower).
Penguins Projected Lines
Filip Hallander - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha - Evgeni Malkin - Justin Brazeau
Tommy Novak - Ben Kindel - Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari
Defense:
Parker Wotherspoon - Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea - Kris Letang
Owen Pickering - Matt Dumba
Starting Goaltender: Tristian Jarry
Scratched: Connor Clifton, Philip Tomasino, Harrison Brunicke.
Injured: Rickard Rakell (hand surgery), Kevin Hayes (upper-body), Rutger McGroarty (upper-body), Caleb Jones (lower-body).
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Fanduel Sports Network North. Anthony LaPanta will be on the play-by-play with Ryan Carter as the color analyst and Kevin Gorg the reporter. The radio broadcast will be on KFAN FM 100.3 with Joe O'Donnell behind the mic doing the play-by-play. Tom Reid as the color analyst and Kevin Falness as the Studio Host.
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