Yahoo Sports Game #25: Ducks vs. Wild Gameday Preview
The Ducks look to return to .500 as they face the Minnesota Wild at home for the second time this season. The Ducks will also look to rebound from a Wednesday night 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Wild come into town off the back of a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 3. They currently hold the best record in the NHL at 17-4-4 and also boast the strongest defense in the league, allowing just 2.32 goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov has been a big reason behind the Wild's success and is currently tied for the NHL lead in points (39) with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas.
Jessica Alcheh-Imagn Images
The Ducks will be without two of their most creative playmakers with Trevor Zegras (lower-body) and Leo Carlsson (upper-body) both out due to injury. Carlsson has not played since Nov. 25 when he left the game due to injury while Zegras suffered his injury on Wednesday against the Golden Knights.
Brock McGinn returns to the lineup after a seven-game absence due to a lower-body injury. He will slot in on the third line with Isac Lundeström and Brett Leason. Ducks head coach Greg Cronin was complimentary of the line after today’s morning skate:
“That’s a logical line, you got three penalty killers (on that line). Kaprizov’s dynamic, (Minnesota has) been tearing the league up. We’ll use a combination of a couple lines to try and slow them down.”
“Just trying to go out and work and try to bring energy tonight,” McGinn said. “Hopefully, our line can play well and we had some chemistry when we were playing together.”
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov will be a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game. With the return of veteran Cam Fowler, the emergence of Drew Helleson and the stellar pairing of Jackson LaCombe and Olen Zellweger, Mintyukov has been squeezed out.
“(Mintyukov being a healthy scratch again) is kind of the same thought process it was for the first game,” Cronin said. “Like I said (after the Vegas game), I didn't think we had the same jump that we've had in the last like eight or nine games against Vegas. We looked a little bit sluggish at times. But I think defensively, we were pretty solid. (Vegas is) a high-shot volume team. They use low-high, shoot it and they try and get those rebounds. For the most part, I thought it was a pretty even game inside that third circle in front of the net.
“So, defensively, I don't think that what happened warranted any changes. (Mintyukov’s) a young kid and he's going to learn by watching. He’s got a good attitude and some of the reps that he's getting in practice by not playing, they’re going to transfer over to a game. You may not get them in a normal schedule because you're so worried about load management before a game. (Assistant coach Brent Thompson) has done a great job with him getting him to focus on those things. He’s going to learn from it and he's going to grow from it.”
Ducks Projected Lines
Cutter Gauthier - Mason McTavish - Alex Killorn
Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Brock McGinn - Isac Lundeström - Brett Leason
Ross Johnston - Jansen Harkins - Sam Colangelo
Jackson LaCombe - Olen Zellweger
Cam Fowler - Radko Gudas
Brian Dumoulin - Drew Helleson
John Gibson (projected)
Wild Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov - Marco Rossi - Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno - Ryan Hartman - Marcus Johansson
Devin Shore - Frédérick Gaudreau - Yakov Trenin
Reese Johnson - Marat Khusnutdinov - Ben Jones
Jacob Middleton - Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm - Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill - Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson (confirmed)
