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    Dylan Loucks
    Dec 19, 2024, 00:30

    Here is everything you need to know before puck drop.

    ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (20-7-4) are back in action tonight for a late start against the Florida Panthers (19-11-2). The game will be televised on TNT. 

    The Wild are coming off a loss and are 7-3-0 in their last ten games. The Panthers are coming off a win against the Edmonton Oilers and are 7-2-1 in their last ten games. 

    They will be without Sam Bennett tonight though. Bennett has 13 goals and 27 points in 31 games for the Panthers this year. But, Aleksander Barkov will enter the lineup for the Panthers after missing the last two games. 

    Devin Shore was put on waivers on Monday and cleared. He will stay in the lineup tonight. No Yakov Trenin for Minnesota. He will miss his third straight game. Brendan Gaunce will make his Wild debut tonight. 

    Filip Gustavsson also remains out tonight. He has a lower-body injury and will miss his second straight game. Marc-Andre Fleury will start tonight with Jesper Wallstedt backing him up

    Sergei Bobrovsky starts for the Panthers. 

    Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).

    Wild's Projected Lines

    Kirill Kaprizov - Marco Rossi - Mats Zuccarello

    Marcus Johansson - Ryan Hartman - Matt Boldy

    Marcus Foligno - Freddy Gaudreau - Ben Jones

    Brendan Gaunce - Marat Khusnutdinov - Devin Shore

    Defense:

    Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber

    Declan Chisholm - Jared Spurgeon

    Jon Merrill - Zach Bogosian

    Starting Goaltender: Marc-Andre Fleury

    Scratched: Travis Dermott

    Injured: Filip Gustavsson (lower), Jakub Lauko (lower), Jake Middleton (upper), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower), Yakov Trenin (upper)

    Panthers Projected Lines

    Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Matthew Tkachuk

    Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Sam Reinhart

    Evan Rodrigues - Jesper Boqvist - Mackie Samoskevich

    Aj Greer - Tomas Nosek - Jonah Gadjovich

    Defense:

    Gustav Forsling - Aaron Ekblad

    Niko Mikkola - Dmitry Kulikov

    Uvis Balinskis - Nate Schmidt

    Starting Goaltender: Sergei Bobrovsky

    Scratched: Adam Boqvist

    Injured: Sam Bennett (sick)

    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 a reporter. The game will also be on TNT. 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.

    Let us know what you think by commenting below or on the Forum.

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