Tonight the Wild and Coyotes meet for the first time after missing the first scheduled meetings back in February when the Wild had their COVID-19 outbreak.
Arizona has dropped two of their last three while the Wild have lost the last two of course. The separation between the two teams is just two points in the Wild's favor and they also have two games in hand on the Coyotes.
Kaapo Kahkonen will be back in net for the Wild after Cam Talbot played the last two in Vegas. Talbot has been very good this year as has Kahkonen. Talbot did have a down game on Wednesday which gets magnified when his understudy has played so well in his absence.
That said Talbot is still the Wild number 1 and Kahkonen is quickly proving he is capable of being the 1B. That is always subject to change but a good situation for Dean Evason and the Wild. In recent years the Wild have no had a true tandem that they could ride the hot hand with. Kahkonen and Talbot are giving them that this year and pushing each other to be better.
Zach Parise will be back in the lineup and I would expect him to play with a bit of a chip on his shoulder to prove to the boys he could have made a difference in Wednesday's loss.
Marcus Johansson is still sidelined as is Ryan Hartman.
The boys will see their former mate in the Coyote net as Darcy Kuemper is expected to get the nod. Since leaving Minnesota, Kuemper has been one of the top goalies in the NHL both in save percentage and goals against average. We saw glimpses of that while he was with the Wild but every time he was handed the reigns he faltered.
That seems like ages ago as the Wild have gone through quite the transition since then.
Should be a good one tonight as the Wild look to rebound and get back to their winning ways. Here is hoping the powerplay gets a few more opportunities and more importantly, they dent the twine in the process.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
It is a sad day in Minnesota as we learned of the passing of Eveleth, MN native and 1980 gold medal winner Mark Pavelich.