Wild Game Day number 39 Wild Record (20-11-7 45 pts) Road Record (6-6-6)
Opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets (15-22-3 33 pts) Home Record (7-8-3)
Site: Nationwide Arena, Ohio
Time: 6:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 12/31 Wild 1 @ Blue Jackets 3 1/19 Blue Jackets 3 @ Wild 1
Last Result: 10/22 Blue Jackets 2 @ Wild 3
The Wild visit the Blue Jackets tonight in Columbus before heading home for a Thursday meeting with the Flyers at the Xcel. The last time the teams met was John Tortorella's first game behind the Blue Jackets bench after replacing, former Wild coach, Todd Richards. The coaching change came after Columbus dropped their first 7 games of the season. The Jackets were expected to be a playoff team after their strong finish to the 2014-15 season, which saw them lose just once in their final 17 games.
Tortorella has been able to get the Blue Jackets playing better (15-14-3) but still not to the level that was expected. Columbus is still a quality team and can beat anyone as they proved Saturday with their shootout victory over the Eastern Conference leader, Washington Capitals.
The Wild will again be shuffling the deck with the lines in search of the scoring combinations that will jumpstart the offense again. The key will be to see how they get to the prime scoring area in the middle of the ice and how many quality chances they can generate. The talent is there, and tonight the Wild need to take advantage of this opportunity against an under achieving Eastern Conference foe.
Let's Play Hockey!