Minnesota Wild Gameday Preview: Going for Four in Pittsburgh
The Wild try to improve to 8-2 since their coaching change as they take on the Penguins in the first game of a back-to-back.
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The Minnesota Wild (12-12-4) are headed to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins (13-13-3) in part of a super quick two-game road trip. The two teams have not met this season, but the Penguins have historically had the upper hand against the Wild, winning eight of their last nine meetings. The Wild’s only win came in a shootout back in November of 2021. They will hope to change that tonight.
Riding the Hot Goaltender
The Wild have been hot lately, banking seven wins in their last nine games as they have been chasing down the elusive wildcard position after falling flat on their face out the gate this season. A major reason for the marked improvement has been the stark contrast in the quality of goaltending they have been getting.
Filip Gustavsson is back to looking like the top-end goalie we saw in 2022-23 with a .953 save percentage (SV%) and a 1.28 goals against average (GAA) in his last seven games. Impressive numbers for a young net-minder, but lets not forget about his veteran companion, the infamous Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury had a bad start to what may be his last season in the NHL, and he has only had two starts since Nov. 24, but in those two games, he produced a combined .928 SV% and a 2.55 GAA. With the Wild starting a back-to-back tonight that has them staring down the deadly Boston Bruins tomorrow night, it was thought that Fleury would get to play in game number 997 against his former team, but it appears that Gustavsson’s play has just been too good to put him on the bench.
Spurgeon Return Would Lighten Faber’s Load
After the last two games without both Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, I think it is safe to say that Brock Faber is going to be making a lot of money in the NHL for a long time. The 21-year-old is very quickly earning recognition league-wide for his remarkable play. The rookie is already a defensive powerhouse, a penalty-killing monster, was elevated to first power-play quarterback, and played over 30 minutes in each of their last two games. His 31:34 minutes on ice is the second-highest in franchise history by a rookie.
We might be in for another massive show tonight as Spurgeon is still listed as a game-time decision despite hopes that he would be back in action tonight. The Captain has long been a critical component of the Wild’s roster, but injuries have been a major issue this season, limiting the veteran to just 13 games, which is less than Dakota Mermis and only one more than the now San Jose Shark Calen Addison. If the Wild want to get back in the playoff race they are going to need their captain to get healthy and get back to playing like himself. Faber’s legs might fall off if he doesn’t.
Projected Lines
Here is everyone’s favourite part, the projected lines for this afternoon:
Kirill Kaprizov – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno – Freddy Gaudreau – Pat Maroon
Brandon Duhaime – Connor Dewar – Ryan Hartman
Jake Middleton – Brock Faber
Alex Goligoski – Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill – Daemon Hunt
Filip Gustavsson - Marc-Andre Fleury
It’s unlikely that we see many changes to the lines if any at all. All four forward lines have been doing their respective jobs efficiently and for the most part, the entire forward core has been effective, even the snake-bitten Marcus Johansson who had numerous good chances against the Canucks.
The return of Spurgeon would help have helped settle things down on defense as he and Goligoski tend to make a fairly effective pair as a second option for important game situations, instead it looks like another night of seeing a lot of Faber and Jake Middleton. Speaking of Middleton he is an under-looked component of the Wild’s defense this season, as he tends to be on the first-pairing more often than not and has been playing fantastic for someone making an average of just $2.45 million a year.
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