Tonight the Wild head into Music City to face their Central Division rivals, the Nashville Predators. The Predators have taken the first two meetings of the season in convincing fashion.
Back in October the Predators won 5-2 and then most recently you will recall Nashville spoiling Mikko Koivu's jersey retirement celebration by a count of 6-2. Both of those Predator victories were in St. Paul and both prior to Bill Guerin's trade deadline roster acquisitions.
When the Predators left Minnesota back on March 13th the two teams were tied with 72 standins points each. Since then the Wild ran off seven straight victories before dropping an overtime tilt to the Penguins, and have since won their next two (9-0-1). Nashville has dropped three of their last five and have gone 5-4-0 since then and now trail the Wild by nine points in the very competitive Central Division.
Tonight, Marc-Andre Fleury gets the call in net for the Wild as the Predators get their first look at the Wild and their new netminder. Fleury is a perfect 3-0-0 since joing the Wild including his spectacular 3-1 victory over the Hurricanes on Saturday night in Raleigh.
Matt Boldy and Jon Merrill will once again be out of the lineup tonight but both are skating with the team and will be getting ready to return soon.
Tyson Jost another key acquisition by Guerin has filled in for Boldy the last two games and delievered his forst Wild goal last game in Washington and a key helper in the victory over the Hurricanes.
Jost flies under the radar as far as the recent new Wild players but he is going to be a critical piece of the Wild puzzle moving forward. He has high end skill and we are startig to see that now that he is skating alongside former Predators, Kevin Fiala and Freddy Gaudreau.
The games are all very significant at this time of the year and tonight that will be magnified as the Wild and Predators are looking to secure their playoff position. There is a mutual respect for each other but do not confuse that because these teams do not like each other and that will be evident from the drop of the puck.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!