Wild Game Day number 51 Wild Record (33-12-5 71 pts) Road Record (16-6-5)
Opponent: Vancouver Canucks (23-22-6 20 pts) Home Record (17-7-3)
Site: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Time: 9:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 11/25 Canucks 3 @ Wild 2 12/15 Canucks 2 @ Wild 6 2/15 Wild 5 @ Canucks 2
Last Result: 11/29 Wild 4 @ Canucks 5
Alex Tuch will make his long awaited Wild debut tonight in Vancouver as Bruce Boudreau continues to keep his lineup fresh and on their toes. Tuch was recalled from Iowa on Thursday following the Wild's 5-1 loss in Calgary. Tuch had scored 11 goals and 22 points in 34 for games with Iowa before his recall. Charlie Coyle will move down the lineup to the 4th line and Tuch will take his place along side of Eric Staal and Zach Parise.
Nino Niederreiter will also replace Coyle on the top powerplay unit as well. Boudreau has a way of communicating with his players so that they all understand exactly what he expects of them and what they need to do to get back to their roles. He expects his players to perform at their best, but recognizes when there needs to be a shakeup and makes the necessary moves to keep the team on course.
Such is the case with Charlie Coyle. Boudreau and Coyle spoke about the moves and Coyle is on board knowing what his coach expects of him, but more so that his coach believes in him that he us a top player, he just needs to get back to playing like he was.
It is a long season and every team goes through times that are rough and times where everything clicks. What has made Boudreau successful in the past is his ability to have his finger on the pulse of his teams. A lot gets put on his playoff failures if you can even call them that. But the fact is his teams are consistent winners and in order to have playoff anything, first one has to get there, so let's worry about that when the time comes.
The Canucks on the other hand have been one of the surprise teams of late having gone 9-4-3 since Christmas, but have dropped their last two games, 3-0 in Arizona just before the All-Star break, and 4-1 at home Thursday against the Sharks.
Vancouver is typically a strong team on home ice having won 17 of 27 at Rogers Arena. After tonight the Canucks will embark on a six game road trip where they have struggled all season long.
Wild projected lines:
11 12 53 64 9 16 22 56 29 7 44 3
46 20 6 24 39 4
40
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