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Dubnyk Out Week to Week as Wild Host Leafs |
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Wild Game Day number 31
Wild Record (16-11-3 35 pts)
Home Record (9-3-2)
Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs (20-7-1 41 pts)
Road Record (10-6-1)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results:
10/20 Maple Leafs 2 @ Wild 3
12/7 Wild 3 @ Maple Leafs 2
Last result:
11/8 Wild 2 @ Maple Leafs 4
Devan Dubnyk will be lost on a week to week basis after suffering a lower body injury Tuesday night in the Wild's 2-1 shootout victory over the Flames. Alex Stalock will have the Wild net for the foreseeable future. It appears that Steve Michalek will get the call from Iowa to serve as Stalock's backup tonight.
Toronto comes to town having gone 10-4-1 since beating the Wild 4-2 back on November 8th. The Wild have been equally as effective since that last meeting with the Leafs going 11-4-1 themselves over that stretch. The records make it appear that the two teams have been fairly dominant over the past 5 weeks, but if you look a little closer the Wild have scored 1 more goal than their opponents during their 16 game stretch while the Leafs have score 16 more than their opponents in the 15 games that they have played.
Toronto is one of the top teams in the league while the Wild are still a bubble team looking to find their way into being a true playoff contender. The record and recent wins have all come in overtime or via the shootout for the Wild.
The Wild penalties are a big issue and they now have gone 10 games in which they have not had more man advantage opportunities than their opponent and 9 straight where the opposition has had more powerplays. The number stands at 43 times short for the Wild over 10 games while having just 22 powerplays of their own.
Things have a way of catching up with teams that live dangerously as the Wild have for quite some time. Tonight the Wild will be put to the test, and Alex Stalock will get his chance against the team that snubbed him just over a year ago.
Toronto comes in off a 4-2 loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday, a game which they led heading into the third period by a 2-1 margin only to see the Flyers score three in the 3rd to skate off with the victory. The Leafs have not lost back to back games in regulation since early November, so expect a hungry Toronto team at the Xcel tonight.
With the Wild having 13 healthy forwards now, it has become a rotation of who becomes the odd man out. Tonight it appears to be Marcus Foligno that will be perched in the press box seat.
First it was Cullen, then Stewart, then Ennis, now Foligno. The fact that both players brought in from Buffalo are in this rotation is a story in itself. Neither Foligno nor Ennis has been able to bring anything of real note to the Wild lineup through the first 30 games of the season. While the absence of Scandella is absolutely noticeable in many aspects of the game, while Pominville was a regular in every situation for the Wild and the minutes he logged often went unnoticed when he did not factor on the scoresheet.
Chuck Fletcher is definitely on the hot seat with the early returns on that deal, combined with the premature extension to Wild captain, Mikko Koivu who's goal scoring drought has hit 21 games and he is now pointless in eight straight.
Add that together with the Wild cap situation and now Devan Dubnyk hitting the shelf for an extended period of time, Fletcher is up against it big time.
The Wild have survived well enough to this point, but to believe that their current pace is sustainable is looking at this through some seriously rose colored glasses. A move needs to be made to shake the boys up. The rotating forward only really affects a few players so ice time is still almost guaranteed to most of the team. Until the players have to battle for their professional lives this team will continue to experience the highs and lows of what could be.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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