Wild Game Day number 28 Wild Record (14-7-6 34 pts) Road Record (4-4-5)
Opponent: San Jose Sharks (14-13-1 29 pts) Home Record (3-8-0)
Site: SAP Center, San Jose, California
Time: 9:30PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 10/30 Sharks 3 @ Wild 4 (SO) 12/11 Wild 1 @ Sharks 2 1/6 Sharks 4 @ Wild 3 (OT)
Next stop the Shark tank for the Wild tonight. Last season the Sharks took 2 of 3 from the Wild with two of the three being settled in OT or shootout. The Sharks are struggling in December winless in 5 going 0-4-1 and at home in general having only won 3 times on home ice all season. The Wild are still undefeated in regulation in December, but have dropped two straight in OT on this three game road trip.
The powerplay once again struggled last night going 0 for 4 and the 3 on 3 never really got much of a shot as Parise's penalty 16 seconds into the extra frame sealed the Wild fate. The new look PP did very little to instill any confidence that things will change with the first unit. The move to put Pominville on the half boards proved to be more of the same old same old for the struggling PP unit.
The Wild did have a few quality opportunities to take a two goal lead in the second period with the best of those coming from Pominville and Parise, but both caught iron and not net. Mikkel Boedker was sprung on a breakaway by Tobias Rieder off a sloppy Wild give away and tied the game. Darcy Kuemper started to come out to get the loose puck but decided to retreat back to the goal, which ultimately left him at Boedker's mercy and he made no mistake burying the puck into the back of the net tying the game at 1 apiece.
The Sharks will be without Logan Couture who had surgery Thursday to close an arterial bleed in his right thigh. It has been a tough season for Couture who had just returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing 23 games with a broken fibula. Ryan Carpenter was recalled from the Sharks AHL affiliate the San Jose Barracuda and is expected to make his NHL debut tonight.
Darcy Kuemper is expected to make his third straight start for the Wild for the injured Devan Dubnyk. The Wild have yielded just 5 goals in their five December contests and are 3-0-2 in those games. The offense has not exactly been lighting it up though as they have only been able to score 8 goals of their own in those five games.
Mike Yeo did do some line shuffling in the third period but the results were more of the same. Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker have been non factors in the offensive zone of late. It is time for the Wild to raise the compete level in the offensive zone and battle harder in the dirty areas. Hockey is a game of time and space and the Wild are not battling hard enough to get better scoring opportunities. They have the talent, the talent just needs to work.
Tonight is another struggling opponent and another opportunity to change the fortunes of the struggling Wild offense.
Let's Play Hockey!