The Minnesota Wild have had a full four days off since their appearance in the Global Series in Sweden, but they are thrown directly into the fire tonight as they take on their ever-dangerous Central Division foes: the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche currently sit second in the Central and are closing in on doubling the Wild’s current paltry point total of 14. With Thanksgiving behind us, the Wild are now in a race to turn their season around if they plan on making the playoffs for a fifth straight season.
The Wild are currently on a two-game point streak as they managed to take both of their Global Series games past regulation, but with 17 games down and just 14 points to show for it, they are going to have to do better than a .500 points percentage moving forward. Currently fifth-last in the entire NHL, the Wild’s current position in the standings would give them the worst finish in franchise history. For comparison, the Wild are currently the same number of points out of a wild card spot as the Avalanche are out of the top spot in the NHL (seven).
Minnesota Wild Lines
The lines have been a constant rotation with injuries, call-ups, and just poor overall play, but they are going with the very same lines tonight as they rolled out against the Toronto Maple Leafs back in Sweden. Alex Goligoski will soon be returning from his long-term injury, but his status as the seventh defenseman means that it really does not affect the lines other than making it so that they don’t have enough cap space to carry an extra forward. Vinni Lettieri and Dakota Mermis both had to be placed on waivers to get the team cap-compliant and allow them to accrue as much cap space as possible once Goligoski is back in the lineup.
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Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Freddy Gaudreau – Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno – Joel Eriksson Ek – Ryan Hartman
Brandon Duhaime – Connor Dewar – Pat Maroon
Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber
Jake Middleton – Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill – Zach Bogosian
Marc-Andre Fleury – Filip Gustavsson
While Marco Rossi looks like he has officially earned the well-deserved role of number one center on the team, Freddy Gaudreau is lining up just behind him on the second line despite him recently returning from an injury and having no points at all in the seven games he has played so far this season. An argument may be made here that what is listed as the second and third lines could actually be swapped as Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman on the “third” line are the team’s top two goal scorers while all three of Gaudreau, Matt Boldy, and Marcus Johansson are struggling mightily.
Key to the Win
A little confidence would go a long way in helping the team flip back into winning mode. The Wild have shown flashes of the skilled, hard play that they are known for all season, including entire periods of utter domination, but they have been finding ways to lose games. Sometimes it’s a couple of weak goals to start the first period, sometimes it’s devastating giveaways that lead to high-danger chances against, and sometimes it’s their special teams being historically bad. The most frustrating part is that just when they manage to fix their current issue they go and fall apart somewhere else.
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A couple of quick goals and some zone time against the Avalanche is not an easy task, but it feels like the Wild are currently so fragile that if they don’t manage to collect some confidence early, they might not be able to build as the game goes on. Even worse, if they come out in the first period flat-footed and allow them to get ahead early, it is extremely unlikely that the Wild have the mental strength that would be needed to get a comeback win against such a skilled team. A win tonight could be just what they need to finally break through and put a couple of wins together in a row.
Next on the Dockett
There is no hope of the Wild returning to a normal schedule anytime soon (normal for the NHL that is) after tonight’s game. Their next game will be against the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 26, which will be the first of four games in seven days as they are back in Minnesota against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 28, head down to Nashville to take on the Predators on Nov. 30 and then return to St. Paul once again to face the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 3. Somehow the NHL as a league continues to find new ways to torture teams with ridiculous scheduling.
