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Hockey Day Minnesota!!! Wild/Lightning |
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Wild Game Day number 47
Wild Record (24-17-5 53 pts)
Home Record (15-4-4)
Opponent: Tampa Bay Lightning (31-11-3 65 pts)
Road Record (14-6-2)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 8:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last season results:
2/10 Lightning 1 @ Wild 2 (SO)
3/9 Wild 1 @ Lightning 4
Last result:
12/23 Wild 0 @ Lightning 3
2018 Hockey Day Minnesota is like an unofficial holiday in the State of Hockey. The festivities get under way in St. Cloud with 3 outdoor games and culminate with the Wild hosting the Lightning in St. Paul.
A former Hockey Day Minnesota hero, Kyle Rau, could be making his Minnesota Wild debut tonight. Rau, the Eden Prairie native, has 33 games of NHL experience under his belt, all with Florida, and has 2 goals and 3 points. Rau has been one of the Iowa Wild's most reliable players this season scoring 11 goals and 21 points in 36 games.
Ironically if Kyle Rau makes his Wild debut on Hockey Day, it would mark the second time a Rau would make his Wild debut on Hockey Day, as older brother Chad Rau made his debut on Hockey Day in 2012 and netted the game winning goal to boot.
Nino Niederreiter will not return to the Wild lineup now until after the All-Star break. As Bruce Boudreau had warned when Nino first got hurt back in the first week of the season, high ankle sprains have a way of lingering for much of the season. The best thing for Nino is to get fully healthy before coming back into the lineup.
The Lightning own the league's best record, but have dropped their last two games and four of their last six. Tampa took the first matchup with the Wild 3-0 in the final game before the Christmas break. That score was not indicative of the game though as it was scoreless until Dan Girardi broke the tie at 17:18 of the 3rd and then Tyler Johnson ripped a wrist shot past a screened Alex Stalock, 52 seconds later to put the game on ice. Nikita Kucherov added an empty netter for the 3-0 final.
There is no time for the Wild to ramp things back up as while they were away on their bye week, the rest of the Central Division went 8-0-1. The Wild return sitting in sixth in the Central and 10th in the Western Conference. They are tied in points with Colorado who currently holds the final Western Conference playoff position having two games in hand on the Wild.
There are just 10 points separating the Central Division leading Nashville Predators (60 points) and the 7th place Chicago Blackhawks (50 points). Every game is magnified and winning especially in regulation in those head to head matchups will go a long way in deciding who gets in and who goes home when the season ends.
Tonight is not a division game or conference game for the Wild, but it is a game against one of the league's top teams and should serve as a good measuring stick for Minnesota as they come out of their break.
Happy Hockey Day Minnesota!!!
You can follow Hockey Day Minnesota with a virtual reality experience on the Fox Sports Mobile app.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey, but today it is a celebration of the game at all levels all across the state.
Follow me on Twitter @dwallace17
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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