The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild are going to match up for the second time this week and the third time this month. All three results between these two teams so far this season have been Minnesota Wild wins in extra time by a score of 4-3.
On Tuesday, Mats Zuccarello scored the overtime winner after the Blackhawks battled back to get it tied late in the third period. Now, the Blackhawks have one final chance to get a win over their Stanley Cup-contending rivals.
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Scouting Minnesota
The Minnesota Wild, despite winning on Tuesday, are not too happy with the way they’ve played over the last couple of weeks.
They aren’t likely to catch the Dallas Stars ahead of them, and they aren’t in any danger of falling into the Wild Card spot held by the Utah Mammoth, so it’s easy to get complacent, but that can’t be how they go into the playoffs.
This game against the Blackhawks is a chance for them to continue working to get back on track with another win over a pesky young team.
Kaprizov – Yurov – Boldy
Zuccarello – Hartman – Tarasenko
Johansson – McCarron – N Foligno
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Trenin – Sturm – Brink
Hughes-Spurgeon
Brodin-Faber
Middleton-Petry
Wallstedt
Jesper Wallstedt is going to start in goal for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson was in goal during the win on Tuesday, and now they will go with their other Swedish Olympian.
Bobby Brink will draw into the lineup in place of Robby Fabbri. Other than that, their deep forward group will remain mostly the same.
On defense, the pairs are getting a bit of a makeover compared to the last game. The bottom pair will remain the same, but there will be two new pairs in the top four. Quinn Hughes will get Jared Spurgeon, while Brock Faber will move down to play with Jonas Brodin.
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Brodin and Spurgeon are very good defensive defensemen who play a strong leadership role in the locker room, while Hughes and Faber are the younger, more skilled players. This could give them more depth on the back end.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Blackhawks scratched Matt Grzelcyk on Tuesday in favor of Ethan Del Mastro. That meant that all six defensemen in the lineup were 24 or under. That could be the case again on Thursday in Minnesota.
Sacha Boisvert is not ready to join the team yet due to visa issues, so his NHL debut will have to wait.
Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
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Bertuzzi-Nazar-Teravainen
Mangiapane-Donato-Mikheyev
Lardis-Lafferty-Slaggert
Vlasic-Levshunov
Kaiser-Rinzel
Del Mastro-Crevier
Grzelcyk
Soderblom
Arvid Soderblom hasn’t started since Spencer Knight returned from his illness. Project him to get the nod in this one. With the second half of a back-to-back looming on Friday, expect Spencer Knight to get that game against the Colorado Avalanche, who are one of the few teams ahead of the Minnesota Wild in the overall NHL standings.
How To Watch
The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found on ESPN+ and Hulu. The puck will drop shortly after 6:30 PM CT.
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