MONTREAL — With only one victory through their first five games, the Wild continue to tinker with their lineup and another new look will take to the ice on Tuesday against the Canadiens at Bell Centre.
Wild shake up lineup as road trip continues vs. Canadiens
With only one victory through their first five games, the Wild continue to tinker with their lineup.
October 25, 2022 at 10:33PM
"Would we like to leave the lines exactly how they were and the pairs? Yeah, of course," coach Dean Evason said. "That means things are going extremely well. When they don't, you have to make some decisions. Sometimes they're easy decisions; sometimes they're tough."
The Wild (1-3-1) are splitting up longtime linemates Marcus Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek, with Foligno teaming up with Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy and Eriksson Ek centering Brandon Duhaime and Ryan Hartman.
Jordan Greenway will not meet up with the team on the road and is on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury last week in his season debut.
As for the top line, Frederick Gaudreau will join Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.
"Gauds has played extremely well," Evason said. "He's defensively sound, and offensively he's played as well as anybody on our hockey club."
After beginning this road trip with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Bruins, the Wild are also changing up their defense.
Jonas Brodin is now with Calen Addison, and Jon Merrill is next to Matt Dumba.
Marc-Andre Fleury will be in net for his 944th game, which will move him into sole possession of sixth place on the NHL's all-time list for goaltenders.
"We've got to defend well," Evason said of the Wild, which is averaging a league-worst 5.40 goals-against per game. "If we do that, we should get opportunities."
Projected lineup:
Kirill Kaprizov-Frederick Gaudreau-Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno-Marco Rossi-Matt Boldy
Brandon Duhaime-Joel Eriksson Ek-Ryan Hartman
Connor Dewar-Sam Steel-Tyson Jost
Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin-Calen Addison
Jon Merrill-Matt Dumba
Marc-Andre Fleury
Key numbers:
2: Wins by the Wild vs. Montreal last season.
2: Goals for Boldy against the Canadiens in 2021-22.
5: Game point streak for Zuccarello.
6: Assists for Addison through five games.
8: Power play goals by the Wild.
About the Canadiens:
The Canadiens are off to a 3-3 start with all three of those wins coming on home ice. In their last game on Saturday, the Canadiens fell 5-2 to the Stars. Over the team's last three games, Montreal has scored 11 goals after managing just five through its first three. Captain Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens in scoring with seven points. He also has a team-high four assists.
The Wild prevailed 5-4 on Tuesday night, moving back into first place in the NHL with a hard-fought victory in their first trip to Utah. Matt Boldy scored the winner in the shootout.
