Wild Game Day number 27 Wild Record (14-10-2 30 pts) Road Record (6-6-0)
Opponent: Vancouver Canucks (11-15-3 25 pts) Home Record (5-6-1)
Site: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Time: 9:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 10/24 Canucks 1 @ Wild 0 1/14 Canucks 3 @ Wild 2 3/9 Wild 5 @ Canucks 2
Last results: 10/29 Wild 2 @ Canucks 5 11/15 Canucks 2 @ Wild 6
Back on the road for the Wild,as they begin a three game Western Canadian road trip tonight in Vancouver. You may recall that the Wild began their last extended road trip in Vancouver with a 5-2 loss to the Canucks. The rest of that 7 game road swing saw the Wild win 5 out of the remaining 6.
That was then and this is now, as the Wild have a very average 8-8-0 record in total since that first meeting with the Canucks in Vancouver. Overall the Wild have dropped three in a row and 6 of their last 9 heading into this trip.
They have reverted back to the same old Wild that we have been used to seeing the last several seasons. They show glimpses of compete, sprinkled with long stretches of play that lacks discipline and attention to detail.
Just when it looked like this was going to be a different season, after the Wild got out of the gate with a strong first six weeks, the wheels have come loose and the team has been mired in a funk for the last three weeks.
Vancouver is getting Jay Beagle back tonight, returning to the Canuck lineup for the first time since the fifth game of the season, after suffering a fractured forearm. The Canucks will also have another new face in Josh Leivo, who will be playing his second straight game vs. the Wild after being dealt from Toronto to Vancouver following Saturday's game in St. Paul.
This is a critical stretch for the Wild, as they look to right the ship and climb back up towards the top of the division standings. The Central Division is going to be a dog fight the rest of the way and the Wild must start stringing Ws together if they are planning on making a seventh straight trip to the playoffs this season.
Wild projected lines: Zucker-Staal-Granlund Parise-Koivu-Coyle Niederreiter-Eriksson Ek-Greenway Foligno-Fehr-Brown
Suter-Dumba Brodin-Spurgeon Seeler-Pateryn
Dubnyk Stalock
It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!
Follow me on Twitter @dwallace17