Wild's Porter happy to join Vanek-Granlund line

From regular healthy scratch to second-line right wing, that's the position Chris Porter found himself in Tuesday night.

Scratched in seven consecutive games since Feb. 6 and in eight of the previous nine games since Feb. 2, Porter was slotted right into injured Jason Zucker's spot on the Thomas Vanek-Mikael Granlund line against the ­Islanders.

"I've been kind of this guy throughout my career," said Porter, a first-year Wild forward who played 173 games over parts of six seasons with the St. Louis Blues. "I understand that role. It's never fun. You never want to sit out. But in the same sense, talking with the coaches, it was a numbers thing under [Mike] Yeo and a numbers thing under [John Torchetti].

"So I don't want to waste this opportunity. I want to come out and show him what I have and hopefully take the next step."

Tuesday morning, Torchetti said he put Porter, a fourth-line checker averaging the lowest ice time on the team (9 minutes, 43 seconds a game) in 48 previous games with the Wild, on the Vanek-Granlund line because "I like our line balance" with the other three lines after four consecutive victories.

After four wins in a row, he said it was tough to change it.

"I think it should be a seamless move," Torchetti said before the game. "[Porter's] a worker. You've got Vanek with the finish, you've got Granny with the hands. [Porter's] going to be the banger on the forecheck … complement those guys, get them the puck and get in front of the goalie and maybe he gets one off the ankle or a rebound goal or a tip-in goal."

Porter, a former University of North Dakota forward who lives permanently in the Twin Cities, said it was disappointing not getting to play in Sunday's game at TCF Bank Stadium.

"You circle that on the calendar," Porter said. "It's hard, but the writing was on the wall. I kind of knew when we won three in a row that it probably wasn't going to happen. You still hold out hope, but it was cool to see and at least nice to take warmup and get a little feel what it would have been like."

Zucker, injured Sunday against the Blackhawks when he was checked in the right shoulder and face by Michal Rozsival, is unlikely to come on the upcoming two-game road trip, GM Chuck Fletcher said. Zucker was scheduled to see team doctors Tuesday night with an update hopefully coming Wednesday.

It's deemed an upper-body injury, although surprisingly Torchetti said Zucker, whose helmet smacked hard into the ice, doesn't have a concussion. Zucker attended a sponsor's event Monday night, told fans he was doing fine and that he got an e-mail apology from Rozsival.

Center Erik Haula was ready to move on after seven points in four games, including a career-high three against Chicago, earned him the NHL's Second Star of the Week.