Wild coach Bruce Boudreau has trusted forwards Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Luke Kunin to match up against the opposition's best players ever since he arranged them on the same line at the start of the month, and the three have rewarded that faith.
Not only have they limited the impact of superstars such as Florida's Aleksander Barkov and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, but they kept Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin in check at 5-on-5 and completely flummoxed the Dallas duo of Alexander Radulov and Jamie Benn.
"I knew they were going to embrace it," Boudreau said, "and they have."
But eight games into this assignment, the players have become more than shutdown specialists.
The third line has also emerged as a source for timely offense, and this multifaceted role has the potential to keep the unit a vital arm in the Wild's operation — especially when the team resumes its playoff push following the All-Star break and bye week, which begin after the Wild plays host to the Red Wings on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.
"You look at the future of the team, I think you look at those two [young] guys and you look at Marcus," Boudreau said. "He's only 28 as well. What a great starting point."
Since they were united Jan. 4 against Winnipeg, the line was been tagged for five goals at 5-on-5. One of those came amid a line change, with only two-thirds of the line on the ice.
In that same span, the three have contributed nine goals — most recently chipping in two, including a shorthanded tally by Kunin on Monday in the 5-4 loss to the Panthers. Overall, the three are a combined plus-9 and boast 22 points since they started working together this month.