By Thomas Williams -
It's the last home game of the regular season. Hopefully there are many more.
It's the penultimate game of the regular season for the Minnesota Wild and they are getting battle-tested and playoff-ready against another playoff-bound team in the Winnipeg Jets.
Wild vs. Jets
When: 7:00 p.m. CT
Where: Xcel Energy Center
TV: BSNX, BSWIX, TSN3
Radio: KFAN 100.3
What do the Wild have going for them in this game? Well, the standings are not really working for them. Despite beating the Chicago Blackhawks by a hair on Monday, they are still two points behind first place in the Central and have third place pretty much locked up, no matter how many more points they get this season.
So, it's all about getting as ready as they can. Tonight, head coach Dean Evason is icing about 95 percent of what we could expect in Game 1 next week. Gustav Nyquist is taking his time returning to full health, and he is expected to be dressed in the playoffs, and it will be one of Sam Steel or Marco Rossi making their way for the Swedish winger. Those two young forwards now have to battle it out for that opportunity.
Both players had some good moments on Monday, but playing on the same line will probably be easier for Evason to make his mind.
Projected Wild lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno -- Marco Rossi -- Sam Steel
Brandon Duhaime -- Connor Dewar -- Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill -- John Klingberg
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson
Projected Jets lineup
Kyle Connor -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Mark Scheifele
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Blake Wheeler
Nino Niederreiter -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron -- Kevin Stenlund -- Saku Maenalanen
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon -- Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg -- Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
David Rittich
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