Match-up - Minnesota Wild (17-13-4) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (15-16-3) Road/Home records - 7-8-1 -------------- 8-9-2 TV - FS-N, FS-O Puck drop - 7:00 p.m. ET Season series - 0-0 Last 10 - Wild: 3-4-3 ------------ Blue Jackets: 8-1-1 Projected starting goalies - Darcy Kuemper vs Sergei Bobrovsky
Projected lines for the Wild via DailyFaceoff.com:
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Jason Pominville Nino Niederreiter - Charlie Coyle - Thomas Vanek Matt Cooke - Tyler Graovac - Justin Fontaine Brett Sutter - Kyle Brodziak - Ryan Carter
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon Marco Scandella - Christian Folin Nate Prosser - Stu Bickel
Injured: Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Jonas Brodin, Keith Ballard, Niklas Backstrom.
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Scott Hartnell - Ryan Johansen - Jeremy Morin Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Corey Tropp Nick Foligno - Alex Wennberg - Jack Skille Adam Cracknell - Michael Chaput - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - David Savard Kevin Connauton - James Wisniewski Fedor Tyutin - Dalton Prout
Injured: Artem Anisimov, Boone Jenner, Brian Gibbons, Cam Atkinson, Nathan Horton, Mark Letestu, Ryan Murray.
What to watch:
1) 5 vs 5 play. The Wild have been excellent at even-strength this season, and Columbus has struggled in that regard all year despite their recent 9-1-1 stretch. They'll need to be better tonight because if they continue being outshot by 5-10 shots per game they're not going to continue winning.
2) After recording points in consecutive games just once since Ryan Johansen's 10-game point streak to open the season Johansen seems to have found his groove again. He's recorded an assist in four consecutive games and has recorded 10 shots on goal in that span. As long as he continues to shoot they'll start to go.
3) I like Darcy Kuemper, but he hasn't been very good this season. He owns a less than mediocre .903SV%, and is one of the reasons Minnesota currently is on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. The Jackets need to test him early and often, and make sure they have traffic around the crease to screen/collect rebounds.
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