Wild Game Day number 50 Wild Record (26-18-5 57 pts) Road Record (9-14-1)
Opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets (27-19-3 57 pts) Home Record (16-8-0)
Site: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
Time: 6:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last season results: 12/31 Blue Jackets 4 @ Wild 2 3/2 Wild 0 @ Blue Jackets 1
Last result: 10/14 Blue Jackets 5 @ Wild 4(OT)
Wild head coach, Bruce Boudreau is not at all happy that Blue Jackets defenseman, Seth Jones will be allowed to play in tonight's game after he pulled out of the All-Star weekend due to the flu.
The league mandates that players that skip the All-Star Game due to injury must miss one regular season game on either side of the break. For Jones who played in the Blue Jackets game on Thursday in Arizona, that missed game would have to be tonight's contest against the Wild.
All that aside, tonight is another good road test for the Wild as the NHL gets back to work following the 4 day All-Star break. Columbus has had the Wild's number winning 8 of the last 10 games the two teams have played and three in a row, including their 5-4 OT win in St. Paul back in October.
That October contest was definitely one that the Wild would like to have had back after letting two, 2-goal leads disappear, before Alex Wennberg scored the OT game winner just 47 seconds into the extra frame. That is just one of the many points the Wild have squandered through the first 49 games of the season, and precisely why they currently sit in 10th place in the Western Conference and in a dog fight for their playoff lives each and every night from here on out.
The road is where the Wild must pick it up, if they have any plans on making the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. The 9-14-1 record away from the Xcel is not going to get the job done and having 17 of the final 33 on the road there is no time like the present to get things turned around.
Brandon Dubinsky will return to the Blue Jackets lineup after missing the last 18 games with a fractured orbital bone, suffered in a fight with Edmonton tough guy, Zack Kassian back on December 13th. Dubinsky had been sent home by the team last week for what was called personal reasons, and there was some speculation that whatever it was could in-fact be career threatening. Fortunately that was mere speculation and Dubinsky has been cleared to play and will be in the lineup tonight, according to Jackets head coach, John Tortorella.
For the Wild Nino Niederreiter will miss his eighth straight game, but is close to returning and is scheduled to practice with the team tomorrow.
As expected Joel Eriksson Ek has been recalled from Iowa after the break, but Kyle Rau was not, meaning that there will be no healthy forward scratched this evening.
The lines for tonight's game will look like this for the Wild:
Parise Staal Coyle Zucker Koivu Granlund Stewart Eriksson Ek Winnik Foligno Cullen Ennis
Suter Spurgeon Brodin Dumba Olofsson Prosser
Dubnyk Stalock
Getting Coyle back on the wing with Staal and Parise should be a boost for Coyle to get his offense going again. Coyle has struggled to put points on the board having scored just four goals in 33 games after scoring 18 last year and 21 two seasons ago. Just two assists over the last 8 games for Coyle as well.
Daniel Winnik played well in his brief time playing alongside of Staal and Parise, but he is not a top six forward by any means and it is better suited in a third line role and penalty kill specialist.
Devan Dubnyk will be back between the pipes tonight looking to rebound after a tough performance in Pittsburgh last Thursday, where he gave up four goals on 21 shots against, before being pulled in favor of Alex Stalock. In fairness to Dubnyk, not all of those goals were his fault, as the team in front of him gave very little support to their man behind the mask.
Dubnyk is a key piece to the Wild puzzle, and like he has in the past must get on a Roll and carry this team. He needs to get back to playing 4 out of 5 and 9 of 10 games, where he gets in a groove and is tracking the puck well. Lately he has been off balance a lot and prone to letting in the soft goal at the most inopportune time.
Tough building, great goaltender in the opposing net, strong team that plays with speed. The Wild will need to bring their game for the full 60 tonight, and it begins with shooting the puck. That must be the staple of the Wild game from here on out. Boudreau better be pounding it home to the troops, shoot first mentality.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
Follow me on Twitter @dwallace17