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This is Michael Russo's 18th year covering the National Hockey League. He's covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005 following 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. Michael uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio and seen weekly on Fox Sports North.

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Rookies, veterans alike lift Wild to big win and spot atop the Northwest Division

Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: March 11, 2013 - 12:01 PM

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The Wild ushered in the second half Sunday night with a very impressive 4-2 win over the rival Vancouver Canucks to at least for now take over the top spot in the Northwest Division.
 
Minnesota, now 9-2-1 AT HOME (revised), got a huge first goal right off the hop 24 seconds in by Zach Parise, had great jump from the start and rolled from there. Things got hairy when Henrik Sedin made it 3-2 1:02 into the third. One could tell it was going to get tension-filled when the Wild couldn’t capitalize on three 2-on-1’s in the second period, but the Wild responded well and continued to stick with the gameplan.
 
Finally, after a tremendous Charlie Coyle shift in which he evaded and bounced off defenders to help set up Parise’s second goal (read more about this impressive shift in the game story on www.startribune.com/wild), the Wild skated to the victory.
 
“Pretty impressive weekend all around,” coach Mike Yeo said, referring to Saturday’s win at Nashville, too. “I know I felt pretty good going into game looking at our leaders. I had a real good feeling.”
 
I’ll say. You’ve got to hand it to Yeo, who not long ago was under siege by the media and many fans. Along with his coaching staff and of course the players, he’s got this team turning the corner and heading the right direction. And he definitely knows the personality of this team because if you read my pregame blog and tweets, it was very, very, very crystal clear that he had a certain confidence about the type of game the Wild would bring two hours before the game.
 
He vowed the team would put it all on the line and his pregame talk was all about the “opportunity” to make a statement and catch Vancouver in the standings.
 
Parise scored two goals and an assist. Matt Cullen, who played another strong game, set up another Jason Zucker tap-in goal (more on that goal below). Jared Spurgeon scored the Wild’s sixth power-play goal in seven games for the eventual winner and had an assist on Parise’s first goal. Ryan Suter logged another 26:33 (light night for this guy), assisted on two goals, including Parise’s ice-breaker, and extended his point streak to seven games (one off career-high). Niklas Backstrom got the nod in consecutive nights and made another 25 saves. This guy continually gets victimized by the world’s flukiest goals, often somehow deflecting off Suter initially. Backstrom said he can laugh about em when they’re winning.
 
Jonas Brodin again was awesome. Coyle just keeps getting better.
 
“This was a fun game because you had young kids going out and doing their thing and older guys and veterans going out and doing their thing,” Yeo said.
 
Yeo loved the Wild’s response shifts after goals against, loved how the Wild came out and rallied around captain Mikko Koivu when 10:49 into the game, Alex Burrows was being Alex Burrows and got into it with the fiery Finn. All heck broke loose after.
 
That Mike Rupp-Zenon Konopka-Torrey Mitchell line continues to be real good. They play in the offensive zone and generate momentum. When the Wild struggled earlier in the season and last year, it was because shift after shift was in the defensive zone. Hemmed in the zone, chip it out, change. Then the attacking team attacks and you’re in your zone for another 30 seconds.
 
The fourth line continues to do that to other teams, and that’s what the fourth line did the shift before Coyle almost single-handedly set up Parise’s second goal. Rupp, a pro’s pro who plays his role to pretty much perfection, says the best defense is playing 200 feet from your net, especially in the second period when there’s long changes. The line keeps it simple and is one Yeo has full trust in.
 
“The amazing thing about that is they’re starting a lot of times in their defensive zone and Z (Konopka) with his faceoffs, that’s a huge asset to me as a coach and to our team, when you can put them out there and they can play against top lines and you can put them out there in defensive zone situations, and not only can they shut them down and play defensively, but they can execute, get to the offensive zone, play down there,” Yeo said. “Now we’re freeing up our skill lines [to play in the offensive zone].”
 
Every line is getting an identity now (even though the third line did struggle at times tonight). Struggling Pierre-Marc Bouchard may continue to be the odd man out until the Wild somehow is able to trade him or there’s an injury to get him back in.
 
Mikael Granlund has been scratched in four of eight games. He’s struggled to find his right role all year and with all four lines having Yeo’s trust right now, can the Wild continue to scratch him? Or, would it benefit him to send him to Houston so he can play and rediscover his confidence and dominant game?
 
I asked Yeo in the postgame: “I haven’t had a chance to think about that. I just want to enjoy this one right now,” he said, laughing. “We’re very focused on what is most important for this organization for us right now and for our group right now. But we’re also aware about what’s going on in the future and he’s a big part of our future, a huge part of our future, and we’re definitely aware of that. We’ll do whatever we can to try to help his development, make sure we’re not hurting it in any way.”
 
Frankly, I think it’s time he goes back to Houston and gets top line minutes. He’ll be back soon enough.
 
On Coyle, who was just terrific, Yeo said, “I feel like his game keeps getting better. He continues to play with consistency, and because of the way he plays the game, it allows him to do that. He’s not a high-risk player. He’s so strong on pucks that he can muscle guys off and take a look and make sure he’s making a tape to tape pass, not a force play. I believe he has the ability to keep getting better.”
 
Parise raved about Coyle tonight, as did Koivu.
 
I did want to mention Zucker’s goal. Tremendous work ethic by the line, which includes Devin Setoguchi. Zucker fought off a hook at the top of the left circle to drop a puck below the goal line for Matt Cullen. The veteran wheeled past Jason Garrison (who has been terrible for the Canucks and was in the middle of most bad tonight) to the opposite side of the net and whizzed a cross-crease pass for Zucker’s tap-in.
 
Zucker said, “I don’t think I’ve had tip goal like that in a game. Now I’ve had three this year. It’s nice having linemates like that.”
 
So don’t look now, after so much angst this first half, the Wild’s coming together, looking more like a team, sticking to the system and getting some regular line combinations.
 
The Wild won’t practice Monday. I will be live in studio on KFAN starting at 9:20 a.m.
 
Other tidbits:
 
It was Parise’s 25th career 3-point game (his hat trick try at an empty net just missed) and he scored in consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 25-27. He leads the Wild with 11 goals and is second to Koivu with 19 points.
 
Backstrom is now 10-6-3 in his career in the back end of consecutive starts. He doesn’t make them often. He also snapped a personal 0-6-1 streak against the Canucks. The Wild play them a week from Monday in Vancouver.
 
Suter is now tied for second among defensemen with 17 assists.
 
Koivu now has a four-game point streak and leads with 20 points.
 
Zucker is a team-best plus-4.
 
The Wild is 8-3 when it scores first and that’s happened four games in a row.
 
I mentioned this in the notebook, but after scrambling to get a half-dozen goalies into Houston’s lineup last season, Aeros General Manager Jim Mill is once again scouring the depth charts.
 
Both of Houston’s goalies are in Minnesota: Matt Hackett and now-injured Darcy Kuemper. So naturally, on the first day of Hackett’s recall, Shorewood native John Curry was injured in a shootout at Charlotte.
 
In Sunday’s rematch, Cody Reichard, picked up from ECHL Stockton, backstopped the Aeros to a 5-2 victory, while Mill signed ECHL South Carolina’s Jeff Jakaitis, a former Rochester Mayo standout, to a professional tryout to back up. He is the Aeros’ fifth goalie of the year. The Aeros are fifth in the AHL West.
 
“Just when you think you have the depth and have it figured out, a goalie goes down in a shootout?” Mill said. “So you get the list out, start making calls to get a goalie into to Charlotte for a 3:00 pm game and oh yea we lose an hour - Daylight savings time!”
 
Again, no practice Monday. Barring news, no blog. Talk to you Tuesday, and of course, on Twitter.
 

Wild's comeback falls short in Anaheim

Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: March 2, 2013 - 12:42 AM

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As Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said after Anaheim's 3-2 win tonight at the Honda Center, the Wild "vastly outplayed" the Ducks in the final two periods "but we just hung on."

Unfortunately for Minnesota, it spotted the Ducks, who are off to their best start in club history (15-3-1), a 3-0 lead. It wasn't like the game here Feb. 1 when the Wild was literally pinned in its zone for pretty much 55 minutes.

Tonight, the Wild paid for not being crisp with the puck in the first period. Turnovers, being caught in between, and Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead.

But the Wild dominated the second. Jonas Hiller kept the Wild, 6-3-1 in its past 10, at bay despite some bigtime chances. Then a puck deflected off Ryan Suter's skate and into the crease under Darcy Kuemper, and Matt Beleskey shuffleboarded (made-up verb) it home for the eventual winner.

Kyle Brodziak scored 29 seconds into the third and Devin Setoguchi followed, but the Wild could never get the equalizer despite a late power play against a team that's won eight in a row at home.

The Wild controlled the last 10 minutes of the game after assistant coach Rick Wilson shuffled the D pairs, some of which weren't sharp -- like for a rarity, Suter-Jonas Brodin. Jared Spurgeon, who had a strong game and was the only plus Wild player in 27:47 of ice time, played with Suter and Brodin with Nate Prosser, and momentum came.

No momentum came from a late power play. Brodziak was on the No. 1 unit, and that stemmed from the change in Phoenix where they threw him out there and Spurgeon scored the eventual winner. They're doing it for the net-front presence, but I still would like to see more flash on the power play, maybe more of a shooter, like I don't know, AHL power-play stud Jason Zucker!

Judging from the tweets, fans are clamoring, too. I understand that Yeo is limiting his ice time at 5-on-5. All coaches do this with rookies who may not be playing the system to a T. But I think it's time the kid gets some power-play time. Yeo said last week he was hesitant because the veterans deserve first shot. But the power play ranks 25th in the NHL and the Wild doesn't score enough 5-on-5 to continually be wasting must-score power plays.

But other than the first period, I liked the Wild's game tonight. The Wild was all over a terrific Anaheim team. The effort was outstanding. It just paid for some careless plays with the puck in the first.

Couple things: The Wild is spending the night here in Anaheim, flying home Saturday and not practicing. So there may be no blog if no news.

The temperature for Sunday's game against Edmonton may have been dialed down. Taylor Hall, who injured Cal Clutterbuck in Edmonton last week, left tonight's game at St. Louis with a reported hamstring injury.

So there's a chance Hall and Clutterbuck won't play at the X on Sunday, which also may kill the story I've been working on!

Clutterbuck definitely won't play. Yeo doesn't have an update yet as to how he's feeling, but even if Clutterbuck is perfectly healthy, he hasn't practiced or been on the ice with the team in eight days. So, he's not playing Sunday.

Kent Youngblood is covering the game Sunday, by the way, although I'm sure I'll still be there tweeting up a storm.

I'm off to Chicago on Monday, but on Monday before my flight, I will be filling in for Paul Allen on KFAN from 9-noon. I'm sure there will be plenty of hockey guests.

Take care.

Tension mounting for slumping Wild

Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: February 7, 2013 - 11:51 PM

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The anxiety around the Wild right now is frankly unreal.
 
“Oh yeah,” Ryan Suter said when asked if he senses it after a 4-1 loss to Vancouver. “It’s not fun right now. Things aren’t going well.”
 
This is the type of thing you hear in the middle of a midseason swoon, but this season is so condensed, it feels like the season’s been going on for weeks.
 
In a shortened season, every loss is magnified and feels like the end of the world. And right now, these three losses the Wild has experienced successively have created an unbelievable tension in the air.
 
We’re 10 games in. It feels like 60.
 
Just think of what has happened since last Friday’s one-sided loss in Anaheim.
 
Charlie Coyle was recalled. Devin Setoguchi and Mikael Granlund was put on the fourth line. Darroll Powe was traded for Mike Rupp. Loss at Phoenix. 25-minute player-only meeting. Setoguchi still on the fourth line. Granlund scratched. Loss to Vancouver.
 
Last season, coach Mike Yeo tried everything to hoist the Wild out of its 50-game, injury-filled swoon. He played bad cop. He played exasperated cop. He played good cop. He played consoling cop.
 
He’s done that this week alone. After sending pointed messages left and right to a few underperformers, his next play tonight was to play the psychologist, saying this is the Wild’s adversity and the team will be better for it and the guys who aren’t scoring goals – Setoguchi, Kyle Brodziak, Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Cullen, even Mikko Koivu and Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Dany Heatley – “it’s like, ‘OK, 10 games, no training camp, no exhibition games, it’s a clean slate for those guys right now. Clean slate.”
 
He tried everything last year and it didn’t work. He’s trying the same cards this year, but reminds, this is a very different group than last year’s one littered with minor leaguers late because of injuries.
 
Most disconcerting tonight is that a team that has all the reason in the world to be desperate and play with urgency showed no fire in the first period.
 
Scary: Zach Parise said the Wild didn’t show up tonight. Ryan Suter said they came out dead. Mikko Koivu said “I think we were right there” and the Canucks did the “little things.”
 
Yeah, like shoot in the first period.
 
Zenon Konopka tried to spark his team with an early fight. Koivu and his line worked its butt off every shift. But there were no sustained forechecks, no shift after shift momentum, little physicality and no shots.
 
One would think you’d figure out that throwing pucks on net is a good thing when Vancouver threw two harmless looking ones at Niklas Backstrom and scored. The Wild? Three shots in the first. Absolutely unbelievable.
 
And then, turnovers galore began.
 
Then the second started and the Wild again was completely lifeless the first five minutes until the fourth line of Konopka, Rupp and Setoguchi had a big shift. Finally, that filtered to the first line and boom, shift after shift, the Wild buzzed, created chances, forced icings, drew two power plays.
 
But as usual, the team that’s scored 21 goals in 10 games couldn’t finish. And as hard as the Wild always tries to score, the opponent seemingly needs no effort to tack on goals and the Canucks did that with two in a 1:35 span to send the Wild off with a 4-0 deficit after.
 
The fed-up fans let the Wild have it.
 
I got tons and tons of questions regarding Yeo’s future on Twitter. I’ve gotten them all week.
 
Is his seat getting hotter? Undoubtedly. This is the NHL after all and it was the team that made it clear that this was the year to take the next step. They created the expectations by using the signings of Parise and Suter to sell, sell and sell some more.
 
"We all feel pressure. We want to win," Yeo said.
 
Now, it’s got to be a helpless feeling when you’ve had a six-day training camp and you have a laundry list of fixes needed and there’s just no practice time to address these issues.
 
But those are all excuses at this point and fans don’t care. I’d say these next four games in six nights (including a back-to-back at Calgary and Vancouver) are huge for this team, its season and its coach.
 
I know the personality of this team. I’ve covered this league long enough. This season has the capability to take a nosedive these next four games.
 
The lack of fire early tonight by many, especially the veterans, was alarming. And sorry: It’s an indictment when two rookies – Charlie Coyle and Jonas Brodin – are arguably two of the best players on the ice. Not good. Not good at all.  
 

Ten random thoughts on the Wild after Bouchard's goal lifts Minnesota to victory

Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: January 29, 2013 - 11:06 PM

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The Wild snapped a three-game winless streak with a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s goal on a 2-on-1 that Bouchard basically turned into a breakaway with 5:19 left snapped a 2-2 deadlock. It was his 18th career winning goal (third all-time).
 
Just a great play all the way around. Zenon Konopka put the puck around the Wild net to Marco Scandella, who chipped it up ahead to Bouchard inside the blue line. Bouchard passed it across near the Wild bench to Justin Falk and then began flying through the neutral zone.
 
Falk sent it diagonally across the neutral zone to the far blue line for Torrey Mitchell. As Konopka dangled the blue line to stay onside, Mitchell made a soft area pass for Bouchard to accept as he flew across the line. With Fedor Tyutin back and playing the 2-on-1 oddly, Bouchard snapped a shot past Steve Mason.
 
It was the 100th career goal for the franchise’s third leading scorer all-time (330 points) mostly known for playmaking (230 assists). Mitchell got his first point with the Wild.
 
Good evening from the Xcel Energy Center press box. Rachel Blount is busy writing the game as I blog.
 
Big sigh of relief from the Wild and its fans tonight as the Wild, which played strong through two periods, again began the penalty-box march in the third period. It took four more minor penalties after taking three in St. Louis. It did give up the tying goal before Bouchard helped the Wild regain its lead, but as Niklas Backstrom said, “the PK guys played huge. They won the game for us in the third period.”
 
TEN RANDOM, OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD THOUGHTS
 
1. Wild fans got to see the real Ryan Suter early tonight. Maligned for the start to his Wild career, he played a strong all-around game, helping the breakout, leading the rush, being much more aggressive and assisting on Mikko Koivu’s first-period goal. He was paired with Jonas Brodin, who also had a solid night. Both were on for Columbus’ second-period goal to trim Minnesota’s lead to 2-1, BUT they got caught out there because of a series of mishaps in the neutral zone earlier that resulted in the initial turnover and about a 90-second shift before Mark Letestu predictably scored (was undoubtedly going to end badly with a penalty or a goal). By the end of the shift, they, like the three forwards on the ice (Mikael Granlund, Bouchard and Mitchell), were dead tired. Also, read my Suter notebook in Wednesday’s paper. Good stuff on him from St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock. Suter has points in three straight.
 
2. Brodin is so poised, smart and mobile. He made a couple defensive plays that should not in all that is right with the world be made by a 19-year-old defenseman playing his third NHL game and first-ever in Minnesota. Defensemen typically hit their strides in the early- to mid-20s. He is 19. He is a special one, folks. The real deal. And you will see him on the Wild blue line for many years. His game will only evolve defensively, and he already has two assists in three games. But in his own zone, he’s rock solid. And as he adds more strength, he will only get better.
 
3. Tom Gilbert scored his second goal tonight on a deflected Koivu shot and he looked great with Clayton Stoner. That’s a big reason coach Mike Yeo got Stoner and Gilbert back together. They were good the first couple games. Gilbert has a three-game point streak, defended real well and skated real well tonight. He led the rush a couple times and was flying.
 
4. Besides Stoner, I thought Justin Falk played a superb game. Up front, Kyle Brodziak rebounded bigtime from St. Louis’ minus-4, and was outstanding on the PK with Cal Clutterbuck. Also, this was by far Matt Cullen’s best game. Great on the PK, couple scoring chances, skated real well.
 
5. Granlund. As you can read in my notebook, Mike Yeo met with him to discuss his play away from the puck the last couple games. He had to talk to him again after the second period tonight. It was his neutral-zone decisions that resulted in that 90-second shift and the Letestu goal. He also took a third-period penalty that resulted in Jack Johnson’s tying goal. Although, Yeo forgave him for the penalty because he felt like he played a quality third. But, I think this is worth paying attention to. Granlund has not been good the last three games. The second line is completely ineffective despite Devin Setoguchi working hard the last couple games to create chances and play physically. Granlund hasn’t been good in the faceoff circle. He is getting pushed around. There’s no doubt in my mind he will be a good player in this league. But, with points so at a premium and the second line a big problem, how patient can the Wild be with Granlund if he continues to not function? Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle and Johan Larsson are playing real well in the minors. Do the Wild maybe at some point send Granlund back for some more seasoning and bring up one of the other rookies and put Cullen back to where, in my opinion, he belongs – center? At the very least, with the Wild below average in the faceoff circle this year, how much longer can the Wild not have Cullen taking faceoffs? He’s annually been one of the better faceoff guys in the league. I usually preach patience. But my opinion right now: I think the Wild seriously need to consider sending Granlund to the minors and calling up one of the other kids.
 
6. Because of the lack of special teams in the first two periods, Yeo was able to roll four lines pretty much and got some good shifts from Darroll Powe, Konopka and Mitchell. Powe jumped to Mitchell’s defense when Colton Gillies gave him a couple extra shoves for Powe’s liking. And when Suter got slashed by Derek Dorsett, Konopka skated right up to him on the ensuing line change and was later out there on the second line when Dorsett was on the ice. They nearly fought, but Konopka said one of Columbus’ coaches screamed from the bench for Dorsett to desist. Konopka and Dorsett played together in Syracuse and Konopka said Dorsett is basically his “little brother,” but he knows he cannot be slashing Suter.
 
7. Wild still has secondary scoring issues. The Wild’s top line created the first two goals tonight. Bouchard’s goal was the first from a forward not named Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu or Dany Heatley since Opening Night. The Wild’s 16 goals have come from six players – five forwards.
 
8. Parise’s five-game point streak came to an end and his 200th goal was wiped out by Toronto when it was ruled his second-period tally was punched into the net. He was real good as usual though.
 
9. The Wild has to stop taking penalties in the third. Almost ruined another game and frankly, if they do it Wednesday night against 6-0 Chicago, it’ll be cooked. The entire Blackhawks staff was at the game. Big test Wednesday.  Wild has an 11 a.m. meeting but no morning skate.
 
10. Linesman Thor Nelson left the game in the second period due to concussion-like symptoms after being struck by a puck. Nelson had major concussion issues last year. He will see NHL referee medical trainer Dave Smith, who I know well from when he was trainer in Florida, and head of officials Terry Gregson (Doug Risebrough’s brother in law) will work to reschedule some of his upcoming games, NHL exec Mike Murphy tells me.
 
Talk to ya Wednesday

NHL cancels games through Dec. 30

Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: December 10, 2012 - 1:20 PM

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UPDATED

This afternoon, the NHL canceled the Dec. 15-Dec. 30 portion of the 2012-13 season. But, ... we're at the point in the lockout where we find silver linings in game cancelations!

This means the Wild can potentially open with its traditional New Year's Eve game!

In all honesty, it wouldn't be far-fetched.

Talks broke off Thursday with the NHL allegedly taking everything proposed last week off the table and an infuriated Gary Bettman huffing, puffing and overheating during a 40-minute news conference. This came after Don Fehr, knowing full well that the meeting with the league just went and ended poorly, stood behind a lectern minutes later and portrayed to the hockey world that there were so many agreements, the lockout was bound to end soon.

But, one would think the league would cancel games beyond Dec. 30 since there's allegedly no hope and things ended so poorly.

Dig deeper and nott a whole lot more in fact, these sides are closer to a deal than not provided 1) the NHL's moderate owners that Fehr and the players so enraged last week didn't really move to the hardliner column; 2) the league puts that $89 million "Make Whole" money back on the table and other proposals.

To do that, the players apparently have to agree to a 10-year CBA with an eight-year mutual out-clause, five-year max deals (seven if you re-sign your own players, a proposal Bill Daly said is the hill the owners would die on) and 5% max variances in salaries in every contract.

I still think the transition rules (buyouts, etc.) and how the salary cap is calculated will be a bit tedious to negotiate, too.

But the two sides made contact this past weekend and it sounds like they're trying to get together. And that always goes well.

So, don't think the emotional roller coasters are over in this excruciating lockout. There's bound to be a few more.

In the meantime, the cancelations mean 526 games scrapped from the schedule, as well as the Winter Classic and All-Star Game. That's 42.8 percent of the 2012-13 campaign. This means at max, it can now be the 12/31/12-13 campaign.

Catchy, ain't it?

Wild coach Mike Yeo, who has been making the rounds with area coaches during the lockout, is down at the Timberwolves today meeting with Rick Adelman. The big objective? Since the NBA had to have a shortened training camp last year once their lockout ended, Yeo wanted to get some tips and thoughts from Adelman.

-------------------------------

The Gophers, who blew a three-goal lead to tie Colorado College on Saturday, then spent all day yesterday getting home because their plane was diverted to Omaha, is fourth in the USCHO.com poll.

Boston College is back to 1, followed by New Hampshire and Notre Dame. North Dakota is 8, Denver is 11, Nebraska-Omaha is 13, St. Cloud State is 17 and Minnesota State-Mankata is 20.

The Gophers are also ranked fourth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. In fact, it's the same top-3 with North Dakota 8, Denver 10 and UNO 14. The Gophers are off until the Mariucci Classic Dec. 29 (Air Force) and Dec. 30 (Boston College).

-------------------------------

The Houston Aeros' six-game winning streak ended last night with a 3-2 loss to Peoria. Charlie Coyle and Chay Genoway scored for the Aeros. Jason Zucker still leads all AHL rookies with 12 goals, is tied for the league lead of all players with six power-play goals and leads with two overtime winners. The Aeros are fourth in the West, play San Antonio Tuesday, at Charlotte Friday and Saturday and home vs. Oklahoma City on Sunday.

 

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