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  • Gamethread: Wild @ Maple Leafs (6:00 p.m.)


    Image courtesy of Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
    Tony Abbott

    The Minnesota Wild passed their first test of the season, shutting out the Florida Panthers at home. Now it's time to hit the road and play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Battle of Teams That Last Made The Conference Finals in the Bush Administration. Both teams have had this game circled on the calendar since Early May.

    The biggest question for the Wild leading up to this game is the health of Marcus Johansson. Johansson departed Opening Night with an upper-body injury in the third-period. Question no longer: Dude is ready to play tonight, meaning the Wild won't be shorthanded on the road.

    In addition, Filip Gustavsson draws in tonight to follow-up his 41-save shutout in the opener. Wow! After facing MVP-level forwards like Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, Gustavsson must be relieved to find he'll get a small break... wait a minute, it says "Auston Matthews" and "William Nylander" here. Our bad! When does Jared Spurgeon get back?

    A big storyline tonight will be the first match-up between two rookie former Gophers in Brock Faber and Matthew Knies. So far, it's a Gallant and Goofuth situation for the two Calder Trophy hopefuls. Faber notched a goal on Opening Night, putting him on pace for 82, which would be a defenseman record. Meanwhile, Knies has struggled mightily without star Arizona Coyotes center Logan Cooley, producing zero points on just one shot. We'll see if these trends continue.

    Old friend Ryan Reaves is in tonight, and he's looking forward to running into some green-and-white sweaters. He told The Athletic's Michael Russo, "Sometimes when you're better friends with them, you want to lay them out a little more. Unfortunately for them, I became pretty good friends with all of them." With that said, if he's anything like Playoff Reaves, it's a free pass for any Wild player to do their best Ryan Suter lumberjack impersonation on Matthews.

    Speaking of old friends, you might also recognize John Klingberg from "Being in Minnesota last year for a bit."

    On a personal note: If the refs take another Marco Rossi goal away tonight, I'm gonna scream.

    Anyway, catch y'all in the comments.

    When: 6:00 p.m. CT
    Where: Scotiabank Arena
    TV: Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Wisconsin
    Radio: KFAN 100.3 with Joe O'Donnell on the call

    Projected Wild lineup:

    Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
    Marcus Johansson -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
    Marcus Foligno -- Marco Rossi -- Freddy Gaudreau
    Patrick Maroon -- Connor Dewar -- Brandon Duhaime

    Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
    Jacob Middleton -- Alex Goligoski
    Jon Merrill -- Calen Addison

    Filip Gustavsson
    Marc-Andre Fleury

    Projected Leafs lineup:

    Tyler Bertuzzi -- Auston Matthews -- Mitch Marner
    Max Domi -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
    Matthew Knies -- Fraser Minten -- Calle Jarnkrok
    Noah Gregor -- David Kampf -- Ryan Reaves

    Morgan Rielly -- T.J. Brodie
    Jake McCabe -- John Klingberg
    Mark Giordano -- Timothy Liljegren

    Ilya Samsonov
    Joseph Woll

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    1 minute ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    To those saying the Wild are a competitor for the cup this year, I present you rude awakening number 1. 

    Same team, same results. Thanks for four more years Guerin.

    Who the hell has said that? No rational fan would say that. There's always a "chance" in the NHL if you make the playoffs, but come on. 

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    1 minute ago, UK_Soldier said:

    Sit Merrill and let Mermis play. May as well. He sucks, has for a long time beyond this season. Sorry but not sorry. 

    Let me see Lambos if I've got to see a Des Moiner. 

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    6 minutes ago, Tony Abbott said:

    This is why 6'3" Jake Middleton is getting dunked on

    By forwards that are considerably smaller than him that are on a team that has no power forwards, just a ton of really skilled dudes.

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    Just now, jgodwin17 said:

    By forwards that are considerably smaller than him that are on a team that has no power forwards, just a ton of really skilled dudes.

    So are they getting exposed by bigger forwards or not?

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    1 minute ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    To those saying the Wild are a competitor for the cup this year, I present you rude awakening number 1. 

    Same team, same results. Thanks for four more years Guerin.

    Just one game against a good team in their building. Giving chances to Matthews, Nylander, and PP crew isn't a good way to do it. All their top guys racking up points. 

    Can't replace Spurgeon with Merrill or Goligoski, hate to say. Missing Dumba now???

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    Just now, jgodwin17 said:

    Absolutely not. I was agreeing with you that that comment you were quoting was absurd. 

    Sorry, J, didn't catch what you were going for. It's been bad tonight. 

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    1 minute ago, Tony Abbott said:

    Sorry, J, didn't catch what you were going for. It's been bad tonight. 

    No worries man! Definitely a painful game to watch. Hope your non-Wild related activities fair better

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    Gross. Just gross. Merrill should be eating popcorn in the Pross-box next game for a start amongst other things. Insert sad, hanging head gif until I figure out how the hell to post gifs again. 

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    Not why they lost, but no goddamn reason Rossi should've been ninth in forward TOI and under 12 minutes. Incredible effort from him tonight, played well enough that it seemed like he played 20.

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    5 minutes ago, Protec said:

    Gonna need to tighten up on D. 

    Have a good rest of the weekend boys!

    Brodin and Faber were +2 and + 3 with an assist each.

    everone else was terrible 

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    Pathetic. Another 5 years of this . Chemistry means nothing if you don’t have good players and hand cuff yourself financially. They punch us in mouth and we fold with are big fat contracts!  23 years of this . Not a Billy believer 

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