Vanek talks about injury; Goalie change for Dallas; Torchetti on why Gabriel played, Prosser and Dumba's ice time

Game 4 tonight between the Wild and Dallas Stars. Puck drop is 8:42 p.m.

Stars hold a 2-1 series' lead.

Teams that hold a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series own an all-time series record of 255-28 (90.1 percent). Wild rallied from a pair of 3-1 deficits in 2003.

Wild coach John Torchetti will go with the same lineup tonight, meaning Jarret Stoll, Ryan Carter, Jordan Schroeder and Mike Reilly won't play and center Zac Dalpe and winger Kurtis Gabriel each get a second straight game.

I couldn't second source it yesterday, so I didn't write it, but this is as good as a second source as there could be: Torchetti said on KFAN this morning that Gabriel playing was GM Chuck Fletcher's call. Fletcher felt, according to Torchetti to Paul Allen, that the Wild plays better with a little sandpaper in the lineup.

I asked about that in today's presser: "Chuck's great," Torchetti said. "That's what you want in a GM. You go over situations and he gives his views and then he leaves it up to yourself and then I go over it with the coaches and talk to Chuck again and Flahrzy (assistant GM Brent Flahr). I think that's the great lines of open communication. I think if anyone knows the pulse of the team – I haven't been here all year for it, but it's a great suggestion and we trust each other. That's what it's all about and we put him in."

There will be a goalie change for Dallas. Antti Niemi will play for Kari Lehtonen.

The Stars pretty much went with both guys this season equally. Niemi was 25-13-7 with a 2.67 goals-against average, .905 save percentage and three shutouts and Lehtonen was 25-10-2 with a 2.76 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and two shutouts.

On the two goalie rotation, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said this morning, "I think it's gone as good, even a lot better than I expected. I've had two guys, I met with them before the start of the year, and I explained that this is going to be new to me, it's going to be new to you guys, here's how it's going to take place. We really don't have a set schedule, here's the plan for it. It will deviate depending on how well you play, and who gets on a roll.

"We stuck with it the whole year, we had a tremendous start in which both guys played well. We had a little bit of a run where they struggled, but the other guy stepped in and did a good job. I feel it couldn't have gone better. And the reason I feel we finished on top at the end was because both guys played so well. I think if I had probably played one, we might not have gotten to where we wanted to go."

Ruff called Niemi, who backstopped Chicago to a Stanley Cup in 2010, "a workaholic. He was out there working to fix his game, he kept telling [goalie coach Jeff Reese], 'I'm ready to go, I feel great.' I think there are different times, when you look around the league, when a goalie has struggled. The good part is, we had someone else to go in and fill the void for us."

By the way, if you didn't read my Ruff feature today, please give it a read here.

He's a cool cat.

Injured Thomas Vanek took part in today's morning skate. He is considered day-to-day. Torchetti announced Parise, who is skating on his own, is week to week. I have been trying not to play with your emotions throughout this, but as I've indicated, just because Parise is skating doesn't mean anything. He is not expected to play anytime soon.

As for Vanek, he was cross-checked in the ribs by Chicago's Viktor Svedberg last month.

"It's tough. Any time you're injured and you have to watch games it's tough," he said. "This one [stinks] for me because usually I feel like I'm pretty good playing with pain, but this one just needs time, and that's what the worst part about it is.
"I really ramped it up the last few days here, and I feel good, but again, I just need time, and there's not a whole lot of it right now. I'll just keep pushing it and see where it goes."

While Vanek said it isn't impossible he's able to return in this series, he said, "I'm confident I'll get in there if it's in the second round, or whenever. The guys who are playing are doing a great.

"It's just not quite there yet. I'm not just going to go in there because I want to go in there. If I'm going to go in, especially this time of the year, I feel like it's more my type of game anyway to go in front of the net, get crosschecks, get those ugly tips, and until I'm ready to do that, there's no point.

"I feel good skating, shooting. I can shoot, but I don't feel fully comfortable letting it go yet. Again, I feel like I'm getting close, but not quite."

On the blatant crosscheck that went uncalled, Vanek said, "To me, it was a dirty play. I was in the corner, and tried making my back to the high slot. The shot got blocked, and you can usually brace yourself a little bit, but I just never saw the game coming, and it buckled me."

What else? What else?

Defenseman Nate Prosser has played well this series. Here's Torchetti on Prosser: "He plays playoff hockey all the time. He's in your face. He's going to be talking between whistles, physical, boxing out, going to pay the price and block shots. He was on today's film for blocked shots. He's just that type of guy, and I'll tell you what, to play that role not knowing that you're going to be in the lineup fulltime, you've got to be mentally tough. I've known him for five years and he's every bit of that."

Matt Dumba only played 9 minutes, 29 seconds the other night, including two shifts in the third period. He was plus-2 and had an assist.

Torchetti said it has nothing to do with them not being happy with Dumba's game.

"Comes with matchups," Torchetti said. "If they're double shifting [Jamie] Benn, if they go Benn's line and then go third line and then come back with [Jason] Spezza's line, then we're going to come back with our top two guys, so if they're going 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, and if that matchup's not there, we're going to come down to our matchup. So it usually comes down to matchups."

That's it for now.

I'll be on KFAN at 5:55 p.m. and Fox Sports North during the pregame show and first intermission.

I'll be co-hosting the Russo-Souhan Show at Tom Reid's at 4 p.m.