Wild looks to stay happy -- and full -- during New Year's game at Columbus

Afternoon from Columbus, where the Wild and Jackets face off at 6 p.m. CT.

Happy New Year everybody!

Kuemps vs. BOB tonight at Nationwide. The Wild is 3-2-1 in its past six in Columbus, but it has lost 16 of 23 here all-time and played terrible here last year, losing 4-zip.

The Jax is/are 9-1-1 in its/their past 11 and love(s) to play hard, in-your-face hockey, so the Wild better be ready to compete tonight.

When the Wild goes through some of these extreme lows, you almost forget what it's like to be around the players when they win.

The Wild hopes to win two in a row for the first time since Nov. 16 and 20 – the end of that four-game win streak.

It's been kind of refreshing to be around the team the past few days. The locker room hasn't been as tense, guys are joking around (they had a gum throwing competition in the locker room's fans yesterday), relaxed, genuinely happy again, so we'll see if that continues.

Koivu never wants to talk about why he does this ("it's about the team"), but a few players mentioned this morning how enjoyable it was to get together as a team last night.

Niklas Backstrom rejoined the team in Columbus this morning and John Curry was reassigned. Backstrom will back up Darcy Kuemper tonight even though he's only been on the ice a few times in the past few weeks because of the stomach plague going through the team, one that still has Jason Zucker beaten up.

But as coach Mike Yeo said yesterday, the Wild wanted to get Backstrom to Columbus and the ice (he was for a LONG time today) because the quicker he's back with the team, the quicker he can play. With important back-to-back games Friday and Saturday, my guess is the team would love him to start one of those against Toronto or in Dallas.

Speaking of Toronto, Yeo said Jonas Brodin may play against the Leafs if all goes well in Thursday's practice.

"He's pretty much ready to play, but we just didn't want him rush him into something [tonight]," Yeo said of Brodin.

Yeo said, "For him to get a little extra work, a little extra conditioning after practice, I think will help him." But mostly, Yeo felt none of the forwards that played in Winnipeg deserved to come out tonight.

In other words, Brett Sutter and Kyle Brodziak were great with two assists each. Ryan Carter and Justin Fontaine scored goals to get the Wild back from 2-0 down. And Yeo wants to get another look at Tyler Graovac.

By the way, Carter had a couple interesting games against Winnipeg, taking a very weird penalty against the Jets in Game 1 and then getting into a standoff with Paul Postma in Game 2 on a puck Carter hit with a high stick. Postma riskily tried to chip the puck out of the zone, it was turned over and Carter scored a huge goal for the game's turning point. I talked to Carter about the weirdness and I'll put a note in tomorrow's paper.

Stu Bickel draws in again. It's been surprising to see how Bickel's been willing to jump into the play like he's Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella and how many chances he's created with stretch passes.

Yeo loves that Bickel hasn't tried to "blend in," that he wants to make a difference offensively and physically. Not easy when most practices this season when he has been up, Bickel has practiced as a forward.

There may come a point where the Wild has no choice and must bring Dumba up, but right now Fletcher says he wants to keep him there. And since Brodin's injury isn't major, the Wild's willing to bide its time with Bickel and Nate Prosser.

I talked to assistant GM Brent Flahr by phone today. He is scouting the world juniors up in Toronto, and today Connor McDavid and Canada squares off with Jack Eichel and the U.S. Those will be the 1-2 players in June's draft in Sunrise, Fla.

Wild 2014 first-round pick Alex Tuch is having a good tourney playing on a line with Eichel and I'll quote Flahr on that in tomorrow's paper or later this week. Tuch, at a minimum by the way, is expected to stay at Boston College for two years.

You can watch today's game at 3 p.m. CT on NHL Network.

Also, I have gotten a lot of questions about Gustav Olofsson's rehab from shoulder surgery. He isn't expected back for Iowa until late February, but Flahr said he has begun skating just to keep up his lower-body fitness, etc.