WildHBcommunity: The Return of Mikael Granlund TONIGHT
Minnesota Wild Vs New York Rangers Gameday Preview
The Minnesota Wild 20 - 12 - 5 (45 pts) will take the ice tonight at Madison Square Garden to battle the New York Rangers 16 - 18 - 2 (34 pts). Both teams enter tonight’s matchup after soul searching defeats. The Rangers squandered an early two goal lead against the New York Islanders on Friday night to lose 5-3. The Wild was savaged by a mostly fill in Pittsburgh Penguins team 5-2 on Thursday night.
New York Rangers Struggling to Find Identity
The Rangers are in the midst of what could be a pivotal season for the franchise as rumors of shakeup swirl around the league. Just recently attention seems to be on the idea that current captain
Ryan Callahan could be made available by his hometown team. The current roster seems to be largely a mix of past and future regimes for the Rangers or maybe more accurately described as before and after
Rick Nash.
About the only thing for certain with this current Rangers team is their franchise netminder “The King”
Henrik Lundqvist. New head coach
Alain Vigneault familiar with having his franchise player being a goaltender after a long run in Vancouver, now must reshape this squad to create the sustain success he enjoyed in his previous NHL job. The question will be whether significant or slight change is needed and whether that will require addition or subtraction.
Both these team will be looking to use tonight’s game as a springboard to generate momentum as each is in the middle of important stretches of their season. For the Rangers tonight marks the 8th of a franchise record nine game home stand in which they have gone a disappointing 1-4-2 leading up to tonight. The Wild is in the middle of playing seven of eight games on the road with a record of 2-3 currently with road games to follow tonight in Philadelphia and Winnipeg. Tonight has to be viewed as a must win for both of these teams and should result in a highly competitive battle.
The Return of Mikael Granlund
The Wild has suffered from a lack of secondary scoring since losing sophomore stud Mikale Granlund to concussion symptoms for 12 games. Granlund who suffered through a brutal rookie season last year, had been the most improved player for the Wild through the first two months of the 2013-14 NHL regular season. Granlund proved with his performance that he had worked diligently in the offseason to remedy the issue that stifled his first season in North America.
Besides providing the second line with a qualified centermen, Granlund in the lineup allows the Top6 to return to what I believe is the optimal line combinations based upon skill sets. The top line will return to
Zach Parise/
Mikko Koivu/
Charlie Coyle which is definitely the best combination for the Wild. The second line will see the combination of
Nino Niederreiter/ Mikaal Granlund/
Jason Pominville which was arguably the Wild’s most productive line during their early season success.
Where I get lost in the world of Yeo logic in line combinations, is the elevation of
Dany Heatley to the third line tonight. Heatley has been added to the 3rd line of
Kyle Brodziak and
Matt Cooke at different times this year only to complete destroy their momentum and waste the energy and effort of those two. Heatley flat out should be a HEALTHY SCRATCH tonight and every night until he has a come to the light moment. Yeo’s greatest indictment as Wild bench boss will prove to be the lack of accountability for Heatley dating back to last season. Yeo last season dragged his feet keeping Heatley on the top line and in the Top6 to the detriment of his team’s production and chemistry. This season without question Heatley has been the Wild’s least effective player production and effort wise and it is not even close! Still Yeo keeps Heatley in the lineup and even elevates him which is mind boggling.
Tonight Zenon Konpka will be a healthy scratch with
Erik Haula centering
Mike Rupp and
Torrey Mitchell. I just am lost as why
Justin Fontaine doesn’t get the nod over heatley with Brodziak and Cooke on the third line. The defensive pairings will be the same I believe with
Nate Prosser out.
Niklas Backstrom will be in net tonight and with
Darcy Kuemper’s health in question it could align for a Johan Gustafsson NHL debut against the Flyers depending on how tonight goes.
Individual Leaders
Minnesota Wild New York Rangers
Points: Z. PARISE (27),M. KOIVU (27),J. POMINVILLE (24) B. RICHARDS (26),M. ZUCCARELLO (24),D. STEPAN (23)
Goals: J. POMINVILLE (16),Z. PARISE (15),D. HEATLEY (7) B. RICHARDS (9),C. KREIDER (8),R. CALLAHAN (7)
Assists: M. KOIVU (20),R. SUTER (20),Z. PARISE (12) B. RICHARDS (17),M. ZUCCARELLO (17),D. STEPAN (16)
PP Goals: Z. PARISE (8),J. POMINVILLE (5),D. HEATLEY (3) R. CALLAHAN (4),D. BRASSARD (4),C. KREIDER (3)
SH Goals: Z. PARISE (1) R. MCDONAGH (1)
GW Goals: J. POMINVILLE (4),M. KOIVU (3),M. COOKE (2) B. RICHARDS (2),R. NASH (2),D. BRASSARD (2)
3+ Goals: D. STEPAN(1),C. KREIDER(1)
PIM: Z. KONOPKA (55),C. STONER (35),K. BALLARD (27) D. DORSETT (103),B. BOYLE (34),B. POULIOT (33)
Shots: Z. PARISE (142),J. POMINVILLE (102),M. KOIVU (84) B. RICHARDS (114),D. STEPAN (91),M. ZUCCARELLO (75)
+/-: M. SCANDELLA (+8),N. NIEDERREITER (+7),M. COOKE (+6) C. KREIDER (+9),C. HAGELIN (0),B. POULIOT (-2)
Just My Take,
Tony Dean
@TonyDean1204
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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