Minnesota pivots to fresh line pairings and defensive shifts in a high-stakes tactical reshuffleaiming to regain momentum as this intense Central Division rivalry shifts to St. Paul.
ST. PAULMinn. — The Minnesota Wild (4-4) is back in action today against the Colorado Avalanche (6-0) for Game 3.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin have both missed the first two games and the Wild have lost both of them. Neither of the two will play tonight as well.
Wild head coach John Hynes said after skate on Saturday that Eriksson Ek is day-to-day but will not play.
He also said that Jesper Wallstedt will defend the cage. There will be some other changes for the Wild.
Wild Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Ryan Hartman - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Danila Yurov - Matt Boldy
Yakov Trenin - Michael McCarron - Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno - Nico Sturm - Nick Foligno
Defense:
Quinn Hughes - Brock Faber
Daemon Hunt - Jared Spurgeon
Jake Middleton - Zach Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Jesper Wallstedt
Scratched: Jeff PetryBobby BrinkMatt KierstedCal PetersenRobby FabbriHunter Haight.
Injured: Jonas Brodin (lower-body)Joel Eriksson Ek (lower-body).
Avalanche Lines
Artturi Lehkonen - Nathan MacKinnon - Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog - Brock Nelson - Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton - Nazem Kadri - Nicolas Roy
Parker Kelly - Jack Drury - Logan O’Connor
Defense:
Devon Toews - Cale Makar
Brett Kulak - Sam Malinski
Brent Burns - Nick Blankenburg
Starting Goaltender: Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Isak PoschJack Ahcan, Zakhar Bardakov.
Injured: Josh Manson (upper-body)Joel Kiviranta (undisclosed).
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