The Wild will roll out new lines on Thursday against the Stars at Xcel Energy Center after being limited to just one goal in Tuesday's loss to the Sharks.
Wild shakes up lines, splitting up Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello
Stars defenseman Ryan Suter will play against the Wild for the first time since the team bought out his contract in July.
November 18, 2021 at 5:54PM
Notably, the team has split up wingers Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and reunited the most consistent line from last season: Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno.
"We've got our board, and there's like 10 different combinations," coach Dean Evason said. "We settled in on that as a group, and we hope that it energizes some people for sure. We don't feel it hurts our depth, our balance, and so we're excited to see how things work."
Earlier in the week, the Wild fell 4-1 to San Jose. In each of the last three games, the team has registered fewer than 30 shots – the three lowest outputs of the season.
"We didn't score goals last game," Evason said. "We didn't do enough to get pucks to the net, get through to the net, find them after. We were literally one and done, and that's not our hockey club. We get back to what we'll do, we'll be fine."
Nick Bjugstad will be scratched as Victor Rask draws in to center Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau.
Across the ice, the Wild will see a familiar face in Ryan Suter.
The defenseman will play his first game against the Wild since the team bought out his contract in July. Suter went on to sign a four-year, $14.6 million contract with Dallas.
"They'll be a lot of emotions, obviously, a lot of close friends, which are now enemies," Suter said. "But it'll be fun. We'll go out there and should be a good game and play hard and after I'm sure they'll be some conversation after. But it's another game. Looking forward to it."
Wild projected lines:
Jordan Greenway-Joel Eriksson Ek-Marcus Foligno
Kevin Fiala-Ryan Hartman-Mats Zuccarello
Kirill Kaprizov-Victor Rask-Frederick Gaudreau
Brandon Duhaime-Nico Sturm-Rem Pitlick
Alex Goligoski-Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin-Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill-Dmitry Kulikov
Cam Talbot
Key numbers:
3: Goals for Eriksson Ek in his last seven games.
5: Points by defenseman Matt Dumba over his past eight games.
5: Goals by the Wild in four of the last seven games.
8: Points for Suter in 14 games.
11-3-3: Record for the Wild in its last 17 games vs. the Stars at Xcel Energy Center.
About the Stars:
Dallas has won two in a row, both by 5-2 scores. Overall, the Stars are 6-6-2 to sit sixth in the Central Division. Forward Joe Pavelski is on a seven-game point streak. Center Tyler Seguin leads Dallas in goals with five. As for Suter, he has five points in his last five games.
After letting 135-footer bounce in early, Fleury steadied himself in 5-3 victory.
