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COVID-19 Hits Wild Ahead of 1st Seattle Visit |
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A lot of news happening with the Minnesota Wild as they prepare for their first visit to Seattle and the Kraken tonight at Climate Pledge Arena.
Covid-19 has hit the Wild first with Assistant Coaches Darby Hendrickson and goalie coach Frederic Chabot along with video coach TJ Jindra all testing positive earlier. GM Bill Guerin also with a positive test was not with the team but was expected to join the club in Seattle.
The news has gotten worse for the Wild and COVID-19, as Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick have entered the league's COVID-19 protocol and will be out of the lineup. Kyle Rau and Connor Dewar were recalled from Iowa in their absence, also recalled was defenseman, Jon Lizotte.
It is always difficult to lose players and Zuccarello, the Wild's leading scorer through the first six games will be missed greatly. Pitlick, who got his first game action of the season, on Tueaday it has to sting a bit deeper. Pitlick played very well in his Wild debut with an assist and nearly scored on a breakaway after he exited the penalty box. He was strong all night and would have for sure been in the lineup again tonight again if he was healthy.
It is always a next guy up approach and more so now with this Wild team there are no guarantees as far as ice time and who will dress. It is an earn your ice team now and everyone has to be ready when they get the call.
Seattle started the season with five straight on the road so not exactly the easiest way for a new franchise to get off to a good start. They are coming off their best performance of the season in their 5-1 thumping of last season's Stanley Cup runner up, the Montreal Canadiens on Tueaday night.
A lot of high expectations were thrust upon the Kraken after the most recent expansion entry, the Vegas Golden Knights, went all the way to the Stanley Cup final in their inaugural season. That most likely 8s not going to be the case for the Kraken as the league and teams figured out that making pre-expansion draft deals really did not play out very well,. This Kraken team more closely resembles an expansion club that had a little better group of talent from which to choose, than previous expansion teams had at their disposal pre-Vegas Golden Knights.
The Wild got back into the win column on Tuesday and flipped the script by scoring the first goal of the game for the first time this season. They rode a solid team effort to an inspiring 3-2 victory on the road against a very good Canucks team.
The PK woes still are present though as the Wild allowed another powerplay goal making it six straight games they have surrendered a man advantage goal to their opponent.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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