Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Moderator: Referees
Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
WILD (32-21-7) at CANUCKS (28-24-9)
TV: FS-N, SNET-P
Last 10: Minnesota 6-2-2; Vancouver 2-8-0
Season series: The Minnesota Wild pay their only visit of the season to Rogers Arena looking for their fourth consecutive victory against the Vancouver Canucks, including a 3-2 shootout victory by the Wild on Dec. 17.
Big story: The teams are separated by six points in the race for wild-card berths in the Western Conference, but the gap seems bigger. The Wild own the first of the two spots with 71 points and are five points ahead of the Dallas Stars, who own the second one. The Canucks are one point behind the Stars but have lost seven of their past eight games.
Team Scope:
Wild: Minnesota comes to the Pacific Northwest after an antiseptic 3-0 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves to earn his second shutout of the season.
"We did a real good job, we were aware of the situation, and everyone was focused tonight," Kuemper said. "It was just a solid team game."
It was the Wild's first game after the break for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and Kuemper said a week of practice helped Minnesota get back to basics.
"We had seven days of practice," he said. "You just use the first two [practices] to get the fundamentals back, and then you worry about the next game. I stuck to my game, and obviously, the team played great in front of me."
The Wild have won three in a row.
Canucks: The topic after practice Thursday wasn't the 1-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues the night before, a win that ended Vancouver's seven-game pre-Olympic losing streak. Instead, center Ryan Kesler was front and center, denying reports that he had asked to be traded.
"Completely false," Kesler said of the media reports. He later added, "I am a Canuck and I am happy to be here."
The good news for the Canucks at practice was that Kesler was fully involved after sitting out the win against St. Louis with an injured left hand. He was injured while playing for the United States during the Olympics.
"It feels good," Kesler said of his hand. "It's making progress. It's better than I expected it to be. We'll see how it feels [Friday] and go from there."
Who's hot: Kuemper is 9-2-2 in his past 13 starts. Dany Heatley scored in Edmonton and has three goals and three assists during a six-game point streak. … Eddie Lack has a 2.11 goals-against average in his first NHL season after blanking the Blues on Wednesday.
Injury report: The Wild are missing goaltenders Josh Harding (illness) and Niklas Backstrom (lower body), as well as center Mikko Koivu (ankle), forward Jason Zucker (leg) and defenseman Marco Scandella (knee). Koivu and Scandella are close to returning. … Kesler hopes to play Friday, but the Canucks are still without defensemen Yannick Weber (undisclosed), Christopher Tanev (hand) and Andrew Alberts (concussion), as well as center Mike Santorelli (shoulder).
TV: FS-N, SNET-P
Last 10: Minnesota 6-2-2; Vancouver 2-8-0
Season series: The Minnesota Wild pay their only visit of the season to Rogers Arena looking for their fourth consecutive victory against the Vancouver Canucks, including a 3-2 shootout victory by the Wild on Dec. 17.
Big story: The teams are separated by six points in the race for wild-card berths in the Western Conference, but the gap seems bigger. The Wild own the first of the two spots with 71 points and are five points ahead of the Dallas Stars, who own the second one. The Canucks are one point behind the Stars but have lost seven of their past eight games.
Team Scope:
Wild: Minnesota comes to the Pacific Northwest after an antiseptic 3-0 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves to earn his second shutout of the season.
"We did a real good job, we were aware of the situation, and everyone was focused tonight," Kuemper said. "It was just a solid team game."
It was the Wild's first game after the break for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and Kuemper said a week of practice helped Minnesota get back to basics.
"We had seven days of practice," he said. "You just use the first two [practices] to get the fundamentals back, and then you worry about the next game. I stuck to my game, and obviously, the team played great in front of me."
The Wild have won three in a row.
Canucks: The topic after practice Thursday wasn't the 1-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues the night before, a win that ended Vancouver's seven-game pre-Olympic losing streak. Instead, center Ryan Kesler was front and center, denying reports that he had asked to be traded.
"Completely false," Kesler said of the media reports. He later added, "I am a Canuck and I am happy to be here."
The good news for the Canucks at practice was that Kesler was fully involved after sitting out the win against St. Louis with an injured left hand. He was injured while playing for the United States during the Olympics.
"It feels good," Kesler said of his hand. "It's making progress. It's better than I expected it to be. We'll see how it feels [Friday] and go from there."
Who's hot: Kuemper is 9-2-2 in his past 13 starts. Dany Heatley scored in Edmonton and has three goals and three assists during a six-game point streak. … Eddie Lack has a 2.11 goals-against average in his first NHL season after blanking the Blues on Wednesday.
Injury report: The Wild are missing goaltenders Josh Harding (illness) and Niklas Backstrom (lower body), as well as center Mikko Koivu (ankle), forward Jason Zucker (leg) and defenseman Marco Scandella (knee). Koivu and Scandella are close to returning. … Kesler hopes to play Friday, but the Canucks are still without defensemen Yannick Weber (undisclosed), Christopher Tanev (hand) and Andrew Alberts (concussion), as well as center Mike Santorelli (shoulder).
Silence intelligence so stupid isn’t offended….
- sagebrush
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Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Murphy:
Lack is indeed starting vs #wild. Kesler and Tanev also in the line-up for #canucks.
Less Canucks embarrassment please.
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Lack a shutout. Lack starts....not Olympic coaching I see.
Silence intelligence so stupid isn’t offended….
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Another 1 nothing game I'm thinking.
Kuemper has been unreal for the Wild since Harding and Backstrom went down.
1-nothing Nucks. Kassian with the goal.
Kuemper has been unreal for the Wild since Harding and Backstrom went down.
1-nothing Nucks. Kassian with the goal.
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
And the goalie controversy wheels begin turning all over again.....
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
We could have worse problems.Mëds wrote:And the goalie controversy wheels begin turning all over again.....
Wait, we DO have worse problems!
- Todd Bersnoozi
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Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Good move me thinks, Lack got a SO, ride the hot hand. Give Lou another couple days to rest up and get over the jet lag and what not. I'd play Lou for the Winter Classic game though, I think he deserves that one.rats19 wrote:Lack a shutout. Lack starts....not Olympic coaching I see.
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
See Edler that's how it's done, you get mentioned in trade rumours ya best score ala Ryan Kesler.
Can the Canucks just win a Cup within the next 5 years.
- Hockey Widow
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Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Wow, that was a horrible call. No way should that have been called off. Bloody awful call. I mean OK we'll take it but really piss poor call. I would be furious if that happened to us the other way.
The only HW the Canucks need
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
No HW. That's called a reversal of fortunes.
We've had so much bad puck luck this season that I will take a wrongly called off goal EVERY single game and twice on Sunday.
We've had so much bad puck luck this season that I will take a wrongly called off goal EVERY single game and twice on Sunday.
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Fuck. That's gonna bite us in the ass. A bad call going our way.....it's gonna come back on us tenfold.
Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
THINK POSITIVE!!!Mëds wrote:Fuck. That's gonna bite us in the ass. A bad call going our way.....it's gonna come back on us tenfold.
- Hockey Widow
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Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
Now you see that penalty bothers me. Brodin deliberately turned his back on that play after Hansen was committed. That should never be called.
The only HW the Canucks need
- Carl Yagro
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Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
You're right HW. That was just an awful, incompetent call.
Edit: the non-goal call, that is.
Edit: the non-goal call, that is.
Last edited by Carl Yagro on Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Hockey Widow
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Re: Minnesota @ Vancouver 7:pm PST FS-N,SNET-P
So who said goalie controversy?
The only HW the Canucks need