By Agnes Reis -
The Wild and the Canucks, former Northwest Division Rivals, have their first clash of the season tonight in St. Paul. It marks the sixth time Matt Cooke will face his former team and the first time for Keith Ballard. Tonight will also mark game number 100 for Nino Niederatter.
The goaltending matchup will be between Josh Harding and, in a cagey move by John Tortarella, Roberto Luongo, for the Canucks as he attempts to exorcise his Xcel Energy Demons. Per Russo, Luongo hasn't started at the X since 2010.
The Wild are coming off of a 2-1 shoot out victory over Colorado while the Canucks last game was a 6-2 massacre of the Boston Bruins, so the Wild are going to need to show some firepower against Lu.
Projected Lines for the Wild:
Parise-Koivu-Coyle
Neiderreiter-Haula-Pominville
Bulmer-Brodziak-Cooke
Mitchell-Konopka-Heatly
Suter-Brodin
Spurgeon-Scandella
Ballard-Stoner
Harding
Backstrom
Healthy scratches are Nate Prosser, Justin Fontaine and Mike Rupp while Mikael Granlund remains out with injury (concussion).
Projected lines for the visiting Canucks:
Sedin-Sedin-Hansen
Higgins-Kesler-Santorelli
Booth-Richardson-Kassian
Walsh-Dalpe-Weise
Hamhuis-Tanev
Weber-Garrison
Stanton-Bieksa
Luongo
Lack
Out with injury for the visitors are Tom Sesito (undisclosed), Alex Edler (knee), Alex Burrows (jaw) and Jordan Schroeder (ankle)
Some Notes and Storylines:
Keith Ballard has 4 points in 36 games this season, twice as much as he had last year in as many games in Vancouver.
The Wild will wear their red sweaters tonight ( you know, if you want to match).
Luongo is 3-9-1-1 at the X. Just sayin'
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