GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Wild will start a three-game road trip Wednesday in Arizona at full strength.
Jordan Greenway back in Wild lineup as Kaapo Kahkonen starts in goal against Coyotes
Greenway missed the past four games because of a lower body injury. Center Victor Rask will be scratched.
November 10, 2021 at 8:04PM
Jordan Greenway, who missed the previous four games with a high ankle sprain, will return to the lineup against the Coyotes.
"It's exciting to get back out there," Greenway said. "It's boring just to rehab every day. I'm excited."
Greenway was hurt Oct.28 in Seattle on a hit from the Kraken's Mark Giordano.
"I went and played the next couple shifts," Greenway said. "I knew there was something wrong, not enough where I couldn't play I guess. Then it got pretty bad as time went on.
"Those things can last pretty long. It's great I was able to recover as quick as I could and get back out here."
With Greenway back, Victor Rask will be a healthy scratch. Other than that change, the Wild will roll out the same personnel from the 5-2 win over the Islanders on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center. That means backup goalie Kaapo Kahkonen will make a second consecutive start.
Kahkonen made 19 saves on Sunday to earn his first win of the season.
Cam Talbot will play Thursday at Vegas.
"We talked about rewarding guys for playing well," coach Dean Evason said. "He's played well. We wanted to reward him for that, and obviously the situation sets up with a back-to-back. It works out nicely that we can play Cam in Vegas and Kahker here tonight."
Projected lineup:
Marcus Foligno-Joel Eriksson Ek-Kevin Fiala
Kirill Kaprizov-Frederick Gaudreau-Mats Zuccarello
Brandon Duhaime-Nico Sturm-Ryan Hartman
Jordan Greenway-Nick Bjugstad-Rem Pitlick
Alex Goligoski-Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin-Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill-Dmitry Kulikov
Kaapo Kahkonen
Key numbers:
12: Wins for the Wild over its last 16 games in Arizona.
3: Goals or more in seven of the Wild's eight victories.
4-2: Road record for the Wild.
7: Victories by the Wild by one goal.
4: Goals for winger Ryan Hartman in his last five games.
About the Coyotes:
Arizona is coming off its first win of the season, edging Seattle 5-4 on Saturday. After Giordano had tied the game at 4 with 1 minutes, 18 seconds left in the third period, the Coyotes' Lawson Crouse replied 13 seconds later to put Arizona ahead with 1:05 to go. Before that game, the Coyotes had dropped 11 games – only one in overtime. The team tied its longest losing streak to start a season after also going 0-10-1 in 2017-18. That's tied for the second-longest streak in NHL history to begin a season without a win.
As the Wild head to the West Coast, they added rookie forward Michael Milne, who has yet to play in the NHL.
