Wild Game Day number 14 Wild Record (5-6-2 12 pts) Road Record (2-3-1)
Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs (9-7-0 18 pts) Home Record (5-3-0)
Site: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Time: 6:30PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North Plus (FSN+)
Last Season Results: 10/20 Maple Leafs 2 @ Wild 3 12/7 Wild 3 @ Maple Leafs 2
The Wild road trip takes them to Canada for their next two, beginning tonight in Toronto, then on to Montreal tomorrow. Minnesota took both games with Toronto last season and have won the last seven contests against the Maple Leafs. That all means nothing heading into tonight's game as the Wild have not established that they can win consistently at all this season.
Auston Matthews will not play tonight for Toronto, which should be a benefit to the Wild, but we all saw what happened just two nights ago in Boston, where the Bruins were without several of their key players, most notably Brad Marchand and David Krejci.
Alex Stalock was going to get the start for the Wild tonight, but it will now be Devan Dubnyk, with Niklas Svedberg backing him up. The change of plans occurred because Stalock's wife, Felicia, is about to deliver the couple's second child and he has returned to Minnesota for this momentous occasion.
Dubnyk, who did not play well in Boston, should be fired up and ready to go tonight. He had been playing better of late and being able to put Monday's game behind him quickly, can only be a positive for Dubnyk and the Wild tonight.
It was obvious that Bruce Boudreau was not happy with his teams' performance on Monday and yesterday he put the boys through a very tough practice as a result.
That trick only works sometimes and with this group it may not be the answer. Boudreau needs to do some soul searching himself to find the way to get through to this Wild team and get them to perform to a higher level. The talent is there, but the energy and fire quite often are lacking.
That is where the coaching staff comes in and how they draw that out of the players is what separates the best coaches from the rest. Boudreau has a tremendous track record in getting his teams to perform well in the regular season, the playoffs have been what his biggest question mark.
As the game evolves, so do the players. Boudreau may be going through his own evolution as a coach with this group. If so that is good and we should begin to see the results, if not though, this could turn on him quickly.
Speaking of the coaching staff, it is no coincidence that the Wild defense looks a little off, this season. Replacing Scott Stevens, has come with some real challenges. Stevens had a presence and the respect of his players, that is not easy to replace regardless of the talent of the players.
Toronto is coming off a 4-3 shoot-out victory over Vegas on Sunday in their return home following a 1-3 road trip. The Leafs can most certainly put the puck in the net, as their 60 goals scored in 16 games ranks 2nd in the NHL right behind Tampa who has scored 58 goals through 15 games. The Maple Leafs problems have stemmed from their inability to keep the puck out of their own net, allowing 58 goals against which ranks them 29th in that department. There were some high expectations for both the Leafs and Wild heading into the season, and both have been somewhat disappointing up to this point. It will be interesting to see how tonight's game unfolds. Two teams trying to get the ship righted and get on some sort of a roll.
Expect both teams to try an establish better defensive zone coverage, in an effort to get back to a more basic and structured game plan. Neither coach wants his team to get into a track meet out there. Both would much rather their team tighten the reigns in the defensive zone and create opportunities off of turnovers and through the breakout from their own zone.
The U.S. Thanksgiving, sort of unwritten measuring point, is just over two weeks away. History has told us that teams that are in playoff position on Thanksgiving have a significantly better proposition of ending the season with a ticket to the playoff party.
For the Wild their work is cut out for them as they enter tonight's tilt last in the Central Division, and 13th in the Western Conference. They desperately need to string some wins together in order to begin their climb.
It's Always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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