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Torchetti Hopes Hard Practice Translates to Game |
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Wild Game Day number 69
Wild Record (31-27-10 72 pts)
Road Record (14-14-6)
Opponent: Montreal Canadiens (32-30-6 70 pts)
Home Record (19-11-3)
Site: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Time: 6:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results:
11/8 Wild 1 @ Canadiens 4
12/3 Canadiens 1 @ Wild 2
Last Result:
12/22 Canadiens 1 @ Wild 2
Tonight the Wild head back to Canada in hopes of getting back on the winning track. Montreal has not been a very friendly place for visiting teams of late. The Canadiens have won seven of the last eight at home and have yielded just 14 goals over that span. Minnesota has not won in Montreal since 2009 (0-2-1), but have been a better team away from home lately winning five of their last seven on the road.
The last time the Wild and Canadiens hooked up was back just before Christmas when the Wild took a hard fought 2-1 victory. Darcy Kuemper was the first star that night when he stopped 24 of the 25 Canadiens shots he faced. Devan Dubnyk, however, will return to the Wild net for tonight's battle as he looks to rebound from one of his worst outings of the season, last Sunday's home loss to St. Louis.
The Canadiens will be without P.K. Subban who suffered a neck injury on Thursday night. Fortunately the injury to Subban was not serious, he is expected to be sidelined on a day to day basis. This will be the first game in Subban's NHL career that he misses due to injury. Montreal will also be without forward Lars Eller. The Canadiens have recalled defenseman Darren Dietz along with forward Charles Hudon.
For the Wild, Jason Pominville will miss his second straight game, but he is traveling with the team and may be available to play Tuesday night in Ottawa. Jordan Schroeder was recalled from Iowa and could take Justin Fontaine's spot in the lineup tonight.
Yesterday coach John Torchetti put his Wild team through a rigorous practice in an effort to get them back into a battle mode. There was a lot of work without the puck, and concentrated effort on drills to emphasize stronger work habits. Something that the Wild have gotten away from in their last few games. If they are going to make a playoff push the work that they put in yesterday must translate to the game tonight and moving forward. Playoff hockey is not for the faint of heart.
Every game is do or die for the Wild and effort is the key. Torchetti expressed some frustration after the Edmonton loss as to why his team did not respond to his game plan. That sounds eerily similar to the words of Mike Yeo, and if that is the case, what does Torchetti have in store to change that?
Let's Play Hockey!
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