Wild Game Day number 41 Wild Record (21-16-3 45 pts) Home Record (13-4-2)
Opponent: Buffalo Sabres (10-20-9 29 pts) Road Record (5-10-6)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 10/27 Wild 4 @ Sabres 0 11/1 Sabres 2 @ Wild 1
Last result: 11/22 Wild 5 @ Sabres 4
Nino Niederreiter is set to make his return after missing the last five games with a lower body injury. Niederreiter's return marks the first time this season that the Wild have everyone healthy at the same time.
Buffalo is in the midst of a 7 game road trip having not played at home since before Christmas, a 4-2 win over Philadelphia on December 22nd. Technically the Winter Classic was a home game for Buffalo, in Flushing, NY at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. Buffalo played the Rangers tough and getting the game to OT, before losing on a powerplay goal by J.T. Miller.
Buffalo has played 3 straight OT games, beating the Islanders, while losing to New Jersey and the Rangers.
Buffalo 1st year head coach and Minnesota hockey legend, Phil Housley, has had a tough time getting his team to buy into his system, but things are beginning to turn around a bit. The last five games have seen the Sabres go 2-1-2 but more importantly their compete level has changed and they are starting to be a tougher opponent to play against.
The Wild have had the Sabres number over the last 5 seasons losing just twice in the nine games the teams have played. But one of those two Wild losses was a 2-1 defeat last season, when the Sabres visited St. Paul.
We all know that no team can be overlooked and no game can just be mailed in, and tonight the Wild better not take the Sabres for granted, thinking they now have a full line up and playing a weaker opponent.
Bruce Boudreau has got his team playing some very inspired hockey since the Christmas break winning three of the four games and playing four of their most complete games in the process. Having the full complement of forwards creates some very intriguing line combinations while also creating some tough decisions for Boudreau as to who will be the odd man out.
The lines will start out like this:
Zucker Staal Ennis Niederreiter Koivu Granlund Eriksson Ek Coyle Parise Foligno Cullen Winnik (Stewart the odd man out tonight)
Suter Spurgeon Brodin Dumba Olofsson Prosser (Reilly the odd man out for the 3rd straight game)
Dubnyk Stalock
So some interesting things happening for the Wild on the ice as the team is playing some of their best hockey the season and Zach Parise back in the lineup. It could not come at a better time as the Wild are in a stretch of the season that sees them play 7 of 9 at home including their win Tuesday over Florida.
Chuck Fletcher made some news yesterday as well as it has been reported by The Athletic's Michael Russo, that he made a trip to Russia to visit with Wild prospects, Kirill Kaprizov and Andrei Svetlakov. This marked the first time that Fletcher had met both Kaprizov and Svetlakov and he said that he had good meetings with both.
That of course is great news but nothing to get overly excited about just yet, nor do we expect to see either of them here in the State of Hockey anytime soon. But opening the dialogue is definitely the first step in the process.
Tonight also marks the return of Marco Scandella and Jason Pominville for their first game back in Minnesota since the July trade that saw them both head to Buffalo in exchange for Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno.
It's Always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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