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Read Gets the Top Line Call

October 19, 2018, 8:06 AM ET [8 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wild Game Day number 7
Wild Record (2-2-2 6 pts)
Road Record (0-2-0)

Opponent: Dallas Stars (3-3-0 6 pts)
Home Record (3-1-0)

Site: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

Time: 7:00PM CT

TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)

Last Result:
12/27 Stars 2 @ Wild 4
2/3 Wild 1 @ Stars 6
3/29 Stars 2 @ Wild 5
3/31 Wild 1 @ Stars 4

Tonight the Wild travel to division rival Dallas to take on the 3-3-0 Stars at American Airlines Center. The teams split the season series a year ago with each team winning on their own home ice.

The Stars started the season with four straight home games and got out to a 3-1-0 start before dropping their first two road games of the season 4-1 in Ottawa Monday and then being shutout in New Jersey 3-0 the next night.

Dallas under new head coach Jim Montgomery, won their first two games only giving up one goal in the process, but since then have yielded 17 goals over the last four.

Minnesota however has struggled to find the back of the net with any kind of consistency and have been outplayed for long stretches in nearly every game to date.

Tonight we will see Matt Read make his Wild debut on the top line skating with Eric Staal and Jason Zucker. Read was recalled due to the lower body injury suffered by Matt Hendricks on Tuesday against Arizona.

Read, quite honestly, played his way onto the Wild roster out of camp but was ultimately the final cut based solely on contract status. Now Read who has experience playing on the top line as he played there quite often with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek in Philadelphia.

Marcus Foligno missed practice yesterday with an illness but will travel to Dallas and should be a game time decision. If he is unable to go, Nate Prosser will dress and most likely slot in on the fourth line, where he skated yesterday in practice.

Tonight's projected Wild Lines:

Zucker Staal Read
Parise Koivu Granlund
Niederreiter Coyle Greenway
Foligno Fehr Brown

Suter Dumba
Brodin Spurgeon
Seeler Pateryn

Dubnyk
Stalock

Every game is important but playing in Dallas against the division rival Stars who the Wild should be in a battle with all season, becomes an early measuring stick. The Wild have not gotten off to the start that they had envisioned and tonight in a tough building is anothger opportunity to show that they are taking strides in the right direction.

Greg Pateryn will be making his return to Dallas in enemy White tonight after signing a free agent deal with the Wild in July.


It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!

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