Wild, Zucker looks to bounce back Thursday in Jersey

As you know by now, John Torchetti rarely talks publicly about his lineup, so if Wednesday's practice was any indication, there will be a little tinkering for Thursday's road-trip-ending game against the Devils.

Jason Zucker, scratched the last two games, practiced on the left side of Mikko Koivu and Charlie Coyle. If you remember, when Zucker was great this season, he skated with Koivu and Nino Niederreiter, so maybe the line will be able to rekindle some of that.

Zach Parise, who skated Torchetti's first 15 games mostly on the Koivu-Coyle line, practiced with Mikael Granlund and Thomas Vanek. Jordan Schroeder moved to the left side of the Jarret Stoll and David Jones line, meaning Chris Porter and Ryan Carter could be sitting along with defenseman Mike Reilly.

I say that because those three made up the "fifth line" in practice. So, Reilly may be out again.

Again, all this is with the caveat that these were practice lines and there has been no confirmation of any of this.

The Wild seemed to do a good job of putting last night's disappointment in the rearview mirror. Everybody practice, which was a little surprising to me just because so many guys were iced up and limping around after the game.

Jared Spurgeon impressively was out there today after his shot-blocking barrage on that one third-period PK. He said he feels fine.

Jason Pominville was the lone player who didn't practice again. He did skate on his own before practice, but he's out against the Devils and doubtful to play Saturday at home against Carolina or Sunday in Chicago, Torchetti said.

Watching the third period over again today, it's amazing the Wild didn't find a way to win that game. The players locked it down pretty well in the final period and gave up next to nothing until the final minute.

But it just shows you how you cannot ever lose focus in a one-goal game. So many little things or little plays weren't executed in that final 45 seconds. The Senators won a puck battle on a D-zone draw against Zach Parise after an icing, then the Wild let the Sens come with speed through the neutral zone on their entry. Then, Ryan Suter had the puck on his stick and couldn't get it out. Then, the Sens played keepaway and the Wild got chasing. Then, one funky bounce off a dasher lands perfectly in the slot. That puck goes anywhere else, and the Wild probably wins the game. But Devan Dubnyk never expected a shot so off the mark would end up back in the slot, and neither did guys like Parise and Charlie Coyle and Koivu and Spurgeon because everybody got caught in between when that puck went right to Michael Stone between the circles.

The result was a very key lost point and as I described on the postgame blog, a very key lost regulation/overtime win. The Avalanche opens a three-game trip in Vancouver tonight. If they win, the Wild will be in ninth by the time it faces the Devils.

Speaking of the Devils, they just won two of three in Cali and if you watched the Jan. 10 game in Minnesota know they can make it very difficult on an opponent. There were 35 shots in that Wild-Devils game, the fewest combined total in a Wild game since 2004.

"You've got to support each other coming up the ice," said Parise, the former Devils captain. "It's one of those games where you can't deter from your gameplan, you can't get frustrated because they're good in the neutral zone. They work hard, they forecheck hard. They play disciplined hockey. You have to make sure you're not switching from what you want to do. Otherwise that's where they attack, they wait, they wait, they wait and try to get you on the counterattack."

The hope is Zucker's speed could be a threat.

"Zuck's speed should be a threat every night," Torchetti said. "That's the bottom line. Zuck's a big, big part of our team going forward. He hasn't had the success all year. I think he the first 10 games was really successful, or 12 games, and he hasn't that had 10- or 15- or 20-game streak back at it since those first 10. He just has to get back to his game, and he has to be a solid two-way player. That's where it starts from."

Zucker has one goal and two assists in 21 games for him since Jan. 7.

"If I'm in, I'm going to be ready to play and make sure I bring my best game," Zucker said. "[Being scratched] makes you think about your own game, for sure. That's a guarantee. It's never bad watching a game from above, and seeing it slowed down. It's a very easy game watching up top and on TV. It's tough to say that because everything looks so slow and it looks easy, but you know it's not that way. You just have to make sure you take advantage of any chance you get."

As I always say, in the press box, it's impossible to fully appreciate how little time and space players have. Upstairs, you see every passing lane, every shooting lane and the game's slow.

Talk to ya in the morning. The lights just went out in the dark, hot, tiny press room here at Prudential Center.