Here is everything you need to know before puck drop tonight.
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (20-8-4) are back in action tonight to face the Utah Hockey Club (15-11-5) before heading on the road on Saturday to play the Winnipeg Jets.
There are a few changes to the Wild's lineup tonight. Freddy Gaudreau will move up to the second line which drops Ryan Hartman down to the third line. Jon Merrill will be scratched as well. Travis Dermott will draw in.
Hartman has zero goals in his last 14 games and one in his last 21 games. After the Wild's last game against the Florida Panthers, head coach John Hynes said one of the ways to get Hartman going is to essentially have him and his linemates clicking.
Giving him two new linemates could help that.
Marc-Andre Fleury will start again for the Wild tonight with Filip Gustavsson out through the weekend. Jesper Wallstedt will back him up tonight.
Utah has been rolling recently. They have won their last three games and five of their last six games. Their only loss was against the Wild in that span.
"Utah's a really good team, I think they’re what, 7-2 in their last 9 and then you have…they got a lot of skill. They can catch you off the rush, they're very active in the offensive zone," Hynes said on Utah. "I think from a defensive standpoint, they do a nice job of taking care of the middle of the ice. So you know what their strengths and weaknesses are, but in this game, it's getting back to the style of game and the mentality that makes us a really good team and we'll be prepared to do that."
Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).
Wild's Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Marco Rossi - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Freddy Gaudreau - Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno - Marat Khusnutdinov - Ryan Hartman
Devin Shore - Brendan Gaunce - Ben Jones
Defense:
Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm - Jared Spurgeon
Travis Dermott - Zach Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Jon Merrill, Travis Boyd
Injured: Filip Gustavsson (lower), Jakub Lauko (lower), Jake Middleton (upper), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower), Yakov Trenin (upper)
Utah HC Projected Lines
Clayton Keller - Barrett Hayton - Nick Schmaltz
Jack McBain - Logan Cooley - Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse - Nick Bjugstad - Matias Maccelli
Alexander Kerfoot - Kevin Stenlund - Michael Carcone
Defense:
Mikhail Sergachev - Olli Maatta
Ian Cole - Michael Kesselring
Juuso Valimaki - Vladislav Kolyachonock
Starting Goaltender: Karel Vejmelka
Scratched: Liam O'Brien, Dakota Mermis
Injured: Sean Durzi (upper), Robert Bortuzzo (lower), Maveric Lamoureux (undisclosed), John Marino (lower).
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 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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