Storylines for the Game
After being named to the United States Olympic Team for the second time, Ryan Suter seems to have elevated his game significantly. He had five points in only two games coming off of the Winter Classic announcement, but has since cooled down with no points in his last three. Suter is going to have to re-up his game if the Wild have any hopes of making the playoffs.
And guess who made Team Canada? Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber has seven points in his last two games but it has not been enough for the team to string together wins since the beginning of January. Even though his team is slumping, the Wild are going to have to shut him down if they hope to win.
Zach Parise was named to the Olympic team as well, but not until after he was re-injured in the late December game against New York. Parise's wife just had twins and news reports are that Zach is supposed to be getting on the ice soon enough. Suter, Pominville, and the rest of our rag-tag group of Wild players are going to need Parise back sooner rather than later.
Nashville Predator GM David Poile has been in the news quite often lately - and not for good reasons. As GM for Team USA at the Olympics, Poile was in charge of assembling the best possible team. Controversially, Poile left Bobby Ryan and Keith Yandle off of his Olympic roster. With such a large distraction and his NHL team floundering in the standings, Poile is going to have to make some changes if he wants to salvage his team's season. Tonight's game might lead to something big.
With Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, and Jared Spurgeon all out, the team has had to turn to secondary scoring. Young players such as Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Justin Fontaine have been leading the charge. Nino almost single-handedly won us the game against the Los Angeles Kings with the Wild's only goal in regulation and the shootout winner, Justin Fontaine led the offensive charge in Phoenix with a hat trick, and Charlie Coyle provided the Wild with their only goals against Colorado last night. For the Minnesota Wild, the future is bright.
Lineups
Minnesota Wild
24-18-5 | 53p
114GF | 119GA
8-12-3 on the Road
Last Ten: 4-6-0
Fourth place in the Central Division
Leading Scorers
Mikko Koivu
44GP | 8g | 27a | 35p | -4 | 18PIM
*Currently Injured - Will Not Play*
Jason Pominville
47GP | 18g | 13a | 31p | -4 | 10PIM
Ryan Suter
47GP | 5g | 24a | 29p | +1 | 22PIM
Zach Parise
37GP | 15g | 12a | 27p | +1 | 18PIM
*Currently Injured - Will Not Play*
Nino Niederreiter
47GP | 9g | 15a | 24p | +9 | 26PIM
Darcy Kuemper is going to start
2GS | 1-1-0 | 3.39GAA | .875SV%
Heatley - Coyle - Zucker
Nino - Granlund - Pominville
Cooke - Brodziak - Fontaine
Vellieux - Haula - Mitchell
*Pairings subject to change*
Suter - Brodin
Scandella - Prosser
Stoner - Blum
Backstrom
Kuemper
Nashville Predators
20-15-6 | 46p
109GF | 137GA
9-6-5 at Home
Last Ten: 3-4-3
Sixth Place in the Central Division
Leading Scorers
Shea Weber
43GP | 10g | 19a | 29p | -14 | 24PIM
David Legwand
46GP | 7g | 21a | 28p | -9 | 16PIM
Craig Smith
43GP | 13g | 14a | 27p | +3 | 12PIM
Marek Mazanec might start
21GS | 8-9-4 | 2.75GAA | .904SV%
Last edited:
