Guess who's back? Back again? Nino's back! Tell a friend.
For just the third time all season, the Minnesota Wild will be full strength 7 p.m. Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights at Xcel Energy Center.
Winger Nino Niederreiter went down with a left ankle bone bruise, the same injury that kept him out of five games in late December/early January, eight games ago. That gave the Wild just two precious games with everyone available after winger Zach Parise made his return from back surgery as well.
"Obviously, it's been a waiting game to get healthy," Niederreiter said after morning skate. "Just very happy to be back in the lineup."
Niederreiter will skate on center Eric Staal's line, with Tyler Ennis on the left wing. Also of interesting lines note, coach Bruce Boudreau said Zach Parise would be moving back to his normal position.
"I don't know if there's much," Boudreau said of how Parise has improved now that he's a month back from injury. "He's probably in better shape. That's probably the thing I notice the most. He moves back to left wing today, so we'll see if he gets a chance to handle the puck a little more."
Devan Dubnyk will be the starting goaltender Friday night against Vegas. It also looked like winger Chris Stewart and defenseman Gustav Olofsson are the scratches. I'll have more on Mike Reilly's return to the lineup after a series of six games sitting for Olofsson in a notebook soon.
It was an optional skate, so no lines for you. Vegas also didn't skate since the team played Thursday night, setting the expansion team record for wins at 34, beating the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on overtime.
