By Giles Ferrell -
The Minnesota Wild make their return to the ice on Friday after having both the NHL All-Star break and their bye week in wake of their 5-2 win over Colorado last Wednesday. Before the Wild make their return to the ice, let's take a little refresher on players who were trending up or down in this week's three on three.
Trending Up
Dubnyk has been a horse for the Wild in January, posting a 7-2-1 record with a .916 save percentage. If you look at his month-by-month save percentage, that .916 is the second best of the season only trailing October's ridiculous .937. Dubnyk's good play was recognized in last weekend's NHL All-Star Game and he was also named the third star of the week for posting a .926 save percentage in big wins over Vegas and Colorado.
Zach Parise continues to perform above and beyond expectations this season, as he went into the break by tallying 15 points -- five goals and 10 assists -- in the last 15 games leading up to it. His point production continues to be the highest he has ever had while with the Wild, as he currently is on pace to finish the season with 74 points.
Spurgeon has stepped up in the absence of Matt Dumba on the blue line. In 12 games leading up to the break, the Wild defenseman has tallied 10 points -- four goals and six assists -- which is tied for seventh best in the league among defenseman in the month of January.
Trending Down
Before getting a pair of assists in last Wednesday's game against Colorado, Granlund went without a point for eight straight games. The Wild playmaker led the team for most of the season in points before being surpassed by Parise over that eight-game scoreless stretch. Earlier in the month, Granlund had been dealing with a nagging injury but it remains to be seen if that is still hampering the Finnish forward.
No points in four out of the last five games before the break and just seven points since Dec. 1 has Koivu in more of an extended drought. Minnesota's 2001 first-round pick did get his 200th career goal against Vegas on Jan. 21, but that was the one point over that five-game stretch leading up to the break. It is a shame Koivu has gone on an extended drought like this after starting the season so promisingly.
Earlier in the month, we went over why Zucker was in a slump and why there was reason for hope. In the three games that followed, Zucker scored three goals and an assist and appeared to have come out of his annual mid-season funk. However, that appears to have been premature as Zucker has been held without a goal in the last five games and has just tallied one assist in that time.
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