Wild Game Day number 75 Wild Record (42-24-8 92 pts) Home Record (25-6-7)
Opponent: Boston Bruins (46-17-10 102 pts) Road Record (23-7-6)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 6:30PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 10/25 Wild 5 @ Bruins 0 11/17 Bruins 0 @ Wild 1
Last result: 11/6 Wild 3 @ Bruins 5
Last night the Wild came out a bit flat after their four day break, but managed to keep the game in check, while they got their legs. Once that clicked in, the game turned in the Wild's favor and turned into one of their best performances of the season. That will need to continue tonight as the Boston Bruins come to town.
Bruce Boudreau's team delivered a monumental victory for the head coach, as last night's win was the 500th of Boudreau's NHL career. Boudreau reached that feat in 837 games which marks the second fastest in NHL history, behind legendary NHL coach, Scotty Bowman, who accomplished the feat in 825 games.
Winning in the regular season is nice, but no one really cares much about that. The wins that matter come after the 82 game season is complete.
So win #500 was historic as far as the record book shows, but it was significant due to the fact, Colorado had caught the Wild with 90 points and St. Louis had drawn within a point of the Wild.
Boston occupies second place in the Atlantic Division with 102 points, trailing Tampa by four points, with two games in hand. The Bruins are doing this despite suffering from more than their fair share of injuries, but it appears that they will get Patrice Bergeron back today after missing the last month with a broken foot. Defenseman, Torey Krug may also make his return to the Bruin lineup after missing the last two games with an upper body injury.
There are no excuses in hockey and injuries create opportunities for someone else to step in and show what they can do.
Speaking of that, Ryan Murphy fits the bill perfectly for the Wild. Losing Jared Spurgeon for at least the remainder of the regular season (despite me having him in the projected lineup yesterday...oops), has created an opportunity for Murphy to prove that he belongs in the NHL.
Murphy the former 2011 1st round draft pick (#12 overall) has had a tough time sticking in the NHL, but he is making the most of his opportunity with the Wild. In 13 games this season Murphy has a goal and 4 points is a +7 with 14 blocked shots and 18 shots on goal.
In his most recent recall, Murphy has 2 assists, 6 shots on goal and is a plus player in 3 of the four games he has played since Spurgeon went down. Murphy plays with the poise of a veteran and at 24 he is at a point in his career where he knows that the window could be closing.
Defenseman often take much longer than do forwards to develop, and for Murphy who is not big by NHL standards for defensemen, at 5'11", 185lbs. But Murphy is a great skater and plays the game at NHL pace. He is both creative and smart, but probably the best characteristic the Murphy has going for him at this point is that he knows that he is playing for his hockey future.
A restricted free agent again July 1st, just as he was last Summer, Murphy is showcasing his talents not just for Chuck Fletcher and the Wild brass, but for the rest of the NHL as well.
The Wild fourth line has really stepped upon the offensive side of the game of late with Marcus Foligno scoring the game winner in Arizona last week and Joel Eriksson Ek scoring the first goal last night which sparked the Wild and got them going. JEE now has a modest three game scoring streak and has goals in two straight.
Today will be a big test for the Wild, to show that they can follow up a big division win, and get back up for another top opponent.
Wild Projected Lines: Zucker-Staal-Granlund Parise-Koivu-Niederreiter Mitchell-Cullen-Coyle Foligno-Eriksson Ek-Winnik
Suter-Dumba Brodin-Murphy Seeler-Prosser
Stalock
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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