Sunday January 14 - Vancouver Canucks at Minnesota Wild - 5 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 44 GP, 17-2-16, 40 pts, seventh in Pacific Division
Minnesota Wild: 45 GP, 24-17-4, 52 pts, fourth in Central Division

It's a big sports day in the state of Minnesota. The Vikings are hosting the New Orlean Saints in the NFC Division Final, but that's just the warmup act for Brock Boeser's return to his home state when the Canucks play the Wild.

The hockey game was bumped back by an hour to avoid a conflict—and I'm a little worried that Brock'll have trouble taking his afternoon nap today. Of course, he's a fan.

Boeser said he’s a @packers fan AND a @Vikings fan, which gets a big reaction in Minnesota. He grew up cheering for Favre, switched to Vikings because his brother married a Minnesota cheerleader. Now Boeser’s girlfriend is a Vikings cheerleader. #BringItHome

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 14, 2018

With all his low-key humility, it's a bit of a relief to know that Boeser is partaking in one of the classic tropes of the All-American athlete, dating the cheerleader!

Perhaps she's part of the reason for his bye week plans?

with no time off for All-Star break, #Canucks Boeser says he'll hang out here in Minny next week during team week off

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) January 14, 2018

Kickoff for the football game is at 1:10 p.m. PT. The start time for the hockey game was bumped back by an hour about 10 days ago—I'm assuming to avoid any overlap.

Come on down! @XcelEnergyCtr Gates 1, 4 and 5 open at 3:30 p.m. Watch the @Vikings before #mnwild hosts Vancouver at 7 → https://t.co/sAqgZVC0rr pic.twitter.com/wSDynk4qe3

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 14, 2018

The schedule change does mean that both the Canucks and the Wild will lose one hour of their bye weeks—both teams start their time off after tonight's game.

Of course, we all remember Boeser's legendary debut in Minnesota last season, where he scored the game-winner. That 4-2 win on March 25 was Vancouver's last win of the 2016-17 season before they finished out the year with eight straight losses.

Earlier this year, it was Jake Virtanen who played hero while Anders Nilsson got the shutout in the Canucks' 1-0 win over the Wild back in October.

Today, Jacob Markstrom gets his third-straight start, following up his 27-save performance in Friday's win over Columbus.

Brandon Sutter also returns to the lineup tonight after missing 21 game and seven weeks of action.

“Reliability, accountability, his penalty killing, his faceoffs and his leadership,” said Coach Green, asked what the #Canucks get back with Sutter returning tonight. 👌

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 14, 2018

When Sutter was hurt, the Canucks were 15th in the league in faceoff success (50.7 percent), 22nd in penalty killing (78.3 percent) and 15th on the power play (20.2 percent).

Going into tonight's game, they're 26th in faceoffs (48.2 percent), 27th in penalty killing (77.6 percent) and eighth on the power play (21.6 percent).

Sutter was 51.6 percent on draws when he was injured, so that's where he should make the biggest immediate impact—if his timing is on after such a long layoff.

For the second-straight game, the Canucks are catching their opponent on the second half of a back-to-back. Matt Dumba scored two third-period goals as the Wild beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center—a game where even Jets captain Blake Wheeler, a native of Plymouth, Minnesota, got in the Vikings spirit:

.@BiggieFunke 👊👊pic.twitter.com/myZ9IOs61l

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 14, 2018

Will Boeser do the same if the Vikes win today? What about honorary Minnesotan Thomas Vanek, who also now makes his home there?

After a 2-1 home win over Chicago earlier in the week, Minnesota currently holds down the first Western Conference wild-card spot, with a solid 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games.

Though he has just one assist in six games since getting back into the lineup after early-season back surgery, Zach Parise does seem to be helping the Wild win games. His ice time has gradually been inching up, and they're 4-1-1 since his return.

Right now, Minnesota's only injured player is Nino Niederreiter, who's expected back just after the team's five-day break.

Devan Dubnyk's also a-little-bit-questionable to go back-to-back tonight:

Boudreau says Devan Dubnyk tonight in goal (assuming Dubnyk’s wife doesn’t have the baby 👶 before then) #mnwild

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 14, 2018

Dubnyk on Baby Watch, he gave an anatomy lesson: “I wasn’t checking my phone. When nothing’s going on when you leave (the house), babies don’t really just fly out of there. Usually there’s some hours of labor before that.” 😁

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 14, 2018

To wrap up today, looks like somebody had the time of his life at KHL All-Star weekend!

🔵🔵

A post shared by nikita_tryamkin #88🇷🇺 (@nikita_tryamkin88) on Jan 13, 2018 at 1:28am PST

Is that a Canada Goose jacket he's wearing? Maybe there's still hope for a retiurn!

Ready for #KHLAllStar Game. pic.twitter.com/LXoB8CfcF8

— KHL (@khl_eng) January 14, 2018

I also just noticed that Tryamkin's Twitter page is now using a Canucks image for his header photo. I think that has been changed recently—maybe hanging out with Linden Vey made him feel nostalgic?

Click here to check it out!

Enjoy the game!

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