Coyle, Granlund switch spots; Wild without injured Vanek, Spurgeon

Good day from Winnipeg, which has been my home away from home for THREE DAYS!!!

Coming to you from the press room here at MTS Centre, where the Wild and rival Jets square off in a fairly big game for one team tonight.

Last season, the Jets reached the eighth spot in the West after beating out the Kings and Stars for the final playoff spot. They were swept by the Anaheim Ducks, but in a lot of ways, many thought it was akin to 2013 when the Wild eked into the playoffs and were beaten handedly by the Blackhawks. That taste and initial experience of finally making the playoffs again helped in the last two postseasons when the Wild was able to advance.

The Jets won't make the playoffs this year.

"It's exciting to be part of these types of games for us because they're not as important to us, but we know that the other side it means a lot to them," said likely future Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who entered today's play 11th in NHL scoring with 72 points. "So it gives us a lot to play for."

I'll have a lot more stuff from Wheeler on the state of the Jets and hard-hitting teammate Dustin Byfuglien in my game notebook in Monday's paper.

As the Jets try to play spoiler, maybe the emotion that'll come with playing a rival will awake the Wild from its two-game siesta. A win tonight by the Wild and a regulation loss by Colorado to St. Louis (both games are at 7 p.m.) will result in a clinched playoff berth for Minnesota.

I don't know what it is about this team that can't get inspired to play the East, but being 13-16-3 against the East this season is one big reason why the Wild has yet to clinch a playoff spot.

The Wild won five of 16 games on the road this season against the East (Carolina, Buffalo, Toronto, Columbus and Montreal).

The Wild doesn't want to back into the playoffs.

"We have to have the mindset that we get into the playoffs playing our best hockey, and feeling good and playing as a group," forward Charlie Coyle said. "We got away from it the last couple games, so we want to treat these games as important games to set ourselves up and feel good going into the playoffs."

Devan Dubnyk vs. Ondrej Pavelec tonight.

Left/right wing Thomas Vanek and defenseman Jared Spurgeon won't play. Vanek will miss his second game out of the last three with an upper-body injury after being cross-checked by Chicago's Viktor Svedberg last week. Watching him walk and simply get out of a chair, Vanek is in real discomfort.

Spurgeon will miss his second game in a row with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot against Ottawa's Bobby Ryan. He has not been on the ice since the injury.

"They'll be day to day as we go along," coach John Torchetti said.

Asked if he hopes they'll play Tuesday against San Jose or at least in the finale Saturday against Calgary, Torchetti said, "We'll see. I mean, I hoped they could play today."

Chris Porter is the lone healthy scratch tonight. Ryan Carter's not on the trip after his wife gave birth to their third child.

As I reported in today's paper, coach John Torchetti indicated during my phone interview with him yesterday that he'd go with an alignment he used late in the Detroit game – Mikael Granlund at right wing with Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu and Coyle at center with Jason Zucker and David Jones. Please give that linked story a read because Torchetti talks about the importance to get Zucker playing well.

Third line remains the same, while former Manitoba Moose Jordan Schroeder plays on the fourth line with Jarret Stoll and Justin Fontaine. Same D pairings.

I believe this will be the first time in his Wild career that Granlund will start a game on the wing. Granlund said he'll be comfortable there because it's where he played for HIFK in the SM-Liiga and for the Finnish national team.

Torchetti's reasoning for moving Coyle back to wing: He says size to have two big centers on the top two lines, but I also think it's to get Zucker (two goals and two assists in his past 28 games) going, to get Coyle going (zero goals and eight assists in his past 15 games) and to reunite Parise and Granlund because Parise loves playing with Granlund.

"I can't remember the last time I played center, so it's been awhile," Coyle said, chuckling.

It must have been Jan. 20 because that's the last time he took more than three faceoffs in a game before Friday's game in Detroit.

"I don't think it should be any different. I've gone back and forth. You and me have had this conversation probably a few times before," Coyle said, laughing. "I've gone back and forth. I should be comfortable."

The only big difference today is toward the tail end of the skate, he worked with assistant coach Darby Hendrickson on faceoffs.

Speaking of Coyle, as Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said yesterday, Keith, suspended for six games, left a voicemail for Coyle the other day to apologize for the slash to Coyle's face.

Coyle called back and they had a good chat, Coyle said.

"He apologized, we had a good talk, he sounded pretty genuine and I respect that. For a guy to do that and call and reach out, I give him credit."

Since the incident, a couple blogs tried to inflame things by using an atrocious angle of the incident to suggest Coyle provoked the whole thing by cross-checking Keith in the face, then slew-footing him.

As the NHL suspension video showed, Coyle didn't come remotely close to cross-checking Keith in the face and Keith's fall was, in the NHL's words, due to a "light shove" compounded by Coyle's stick being "entangled in [Marco Scandella's] skates."

"Obviously [Blackhawks fans] are going to try to back him, but even if I did anything, that shouldn't happen," Coyle said. "It happened and it moved on."

Coyle said he was appreciative of the league video and the "good angles" they showed.

I'll be on Fox Sports North tonight during the pregame show and first intermission, and this will be one of the topics.

Barring a flight delay or traffic tomorrow morning, I am filling in for Paul Allen on KFAN from 9-noon tomorrow.

My guests will include likely a Wild player, Star Tribune baseball writer LaVelle E. Neal III, Justin Gaard, Anthony LaPanta and just maybe a certain caveman that plays defense for the San Jose Sharks.

That's it for me. I finally got to meet Adam Lowry today, the Jets forward who was two years old when I first started covering his dad, Dave Lowry, on the Florida Panthers. Real nice kid.