Tonight the Wild play host to the Senators looking to end their first two game skid of the young season. Minnesota owns an eight game win streak over Ottawa, with their last loss to the Senators occurring March 31, 2016.
Of course the two teams have not met since November 29, 2019, when the Wild defeated thw Senators by a count of 7-2 in St. Paul. Much of the Wild's win streak was accumulated while the Senators were one of the league's bottom feeders.
This is a much different Senators squad that is in transition with a stable of very strong young talent. Brady Tkachuk, armed with a new long term contract is set to be the face of the franchise along with last year's first round draft pick, #3 overall, Tim Stuztle. Drake Batherson and Josh Norris have picked up rightbwhere they left off last season leading the way on atop the team scoring lead with either points and five goals respectively.
Thomas Chabot has been one of the finer offensive blueliners despite the lack of a supporting cast. That is changing now and the fifth year defenseman is poised to take another leap forward. Paired together with Artem Zub the Senators have a formidable top unit for the first time since the departure of Erik Karlsson following the 2018 season.
For the Wild they will once again be without Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick due to COVID-19 protocol and Alex Goligoski will once again be sidelined with an upper body injury. Goligoski participates in Monday's practice so he is getting closer but will not be in the lineup tonight. Jordan Greenway is out indefinitely so the lines will once again be juggled.
Adam Beckman who made his NHL debut Saturday in Colorado skated with fellow Iowa Wild teammate and NHL rookie, Connor Dewar and Kyle Rau. Nico Sturm's line with Brandon Duhaime and Nick Bjugstad remain intact and move up to third line duties.
The top two lines have been thrown into the blender with Joel Eriksson back with Marcus Foligno and Kevin Fiala on the right wing. Kirill Kaprizov skated with Frederick Gaudreau and Ryan Hartman.
It is past time for Fiala and Kaprizov to be denting the twine on a regular basis. They are both high end goal scorers and are being counted on to produce. Injuries are part of the deal over a long season and slumps will occur, but getting back to basics cures a whole lot and these two need to do just that.
The door is most certainly open for the kids to step up and make their mark and earn a spot. Despite the injuries to key Wild forwards, Victor Rask's name is not even in the mix says a lot. Rask has contributes in some key spots during his Wild career and has also been given some very good looks with top line minutes, yet he has never been able to establish himself for any real length of time. We know the writing is on the wall with his contract up at season's end but is the door closing on Rask's Wild career possibly sooner?
Bill Guerin's name was again in the news as the lawsuit that has been talked about will be filed in Rhode Island, and it is said to name Guerin along with Penguins owners, Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle. We will wait and see what transpires here as the legal process takes it's course. Either way this is yet another black eye for the NHL.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!