Good afternoon from Vancouver, where the Wild and Vancouver Canucks face off Tuesday night at 9 p.m. CT.
The Wild is 8-3 in its past 11 against the Canucks, 4-1 in its past five here in Vancouver after an 0-9-2 four-year run in this arena.
It sounds like Sven Baertschi and Philip Larsen could be back from injury and illness, respectively.
If Baertschi returns, it's uncertain if former Holy Angels teammate of the Reilly Brothers, Joseph Labate, will play his fourth NHL game or not on Vancouver's fourth line. He got into his first scrap the other night vs. (Wild fans will be happy) Cody McLeod.
On making his NHL debut against Arizona last week, Labate told me, "It was a dream come true playing my first NHL game. It was very special and being with this team, it's a first-class organization and the players are really welcoming. I think I can play at this level and I'm confident in my abilities, but I think it's been good. It's definitely an eye opening experience. It's the best league in the world for a reason."
The Canucks have won three games in regulation this season, but they have six overtime and shootout wins, including one of each by Markus Granlund.
Acquired last season by Vancouver from Calgary, Markus is playing the left side with Michael Chaput and Loui Eriksson.
This will be the fourth Markus vs. Mikael Granlund showdown (first with their parents in the stands watching it live) and first since Markus was dealt west. Mikael's Wild were 3-0 against the Calgary Flames in the head-to-head meetings.