Wild will try to spoil Anaheim's home opener; Lineup updates

UPDATED

Good morning (it's morning in California!) from Anaheim, where the Wild finally dusts off its road whites and plays a game again at 9 p.m. CT (FSN, KFAN). I'll be on KFAN at 4:30 p.m. CT.

If you want to read a little about what the Wild has been up to since beating Colorado, 3-zip, Saturday, check out this story.

For the second straight game, the Wild walks into an arena with a division championship banner already hanging. Saturday in Denver, the Wild spoiled that Central Division title party for the Avs in their home opener. The Ducks have their Pacific Division title banner up in the air already as they finally play a home game after a 3-1 road swing to open the year.

"In the end, no matter how great it feels to win the division against the teams that are in our division, if you don't go further than that, nobody cares," said Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau. "It is saying something you won it, but we want no fanfare with that. Hopefully there will be a bigger banner there some time in the next year."

As expected, Darcy Kuemper in goal, Keith Ballard and Matt Dumba will be the third pair and the fourth line will be Matt Cooke-Ryan Carter-Jason Zucker with Justin Fontaine making his season debut on the second line. Nate Prosser and Christian Folin are expected to play Sunday in L.A., perhaps with Niklas Backstrom in goal. That's all subject to change.

On Fontaine playing with Vanek and Koivu, coach Mike Yeo said, "We're hoping to see that line click. We're hoping to see that line create a lot of 5-on-5. They got the one big goal when we spotted Zuck up there, but then after that, the rest of the game they were pretty quiet. I want to see those guys be a threat every time that they're on the ice and when they're not on the attack that they're defending the right way."

"We're a deeper team," Yeo said. "We've had some healthy guys out of the lineup already and this is the lineup we're going with tonight. The one thing we want to create is we want the idea that guys are pushing each other, and so obviously we have that right now.

"Actually I haven't been disappointed with his games at all. It's just a matter of where other guys fit right now and we're happy with a lot of other people's games, so the message is pretty simple: Work hard today and get ready for the next one."

Said Brodziak, "I understand it's part of it. It's a long year and you've just got to stay positive and keep trying to build your game up as much as you can. When you get a chance to get back in, you've got to make the most of it.

"When you have a team that's as deep as we are up front, it is going to create higher competition amongst the team and that's never a bad thing when you have guys that all want to accomplish the same thing and contribute and be a part of it. As much as everybody else there's a competition that comes along with it and that should be a good thing for the group."

Carter, who won a Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Ducks (see that story here), will center the fourth line.

"It's frustrating to be hurt. I felt real good in training camp and preseason and I'm just trying to get healthy again," Heatley said.

Heatley said it was a freak, innocent thing and disappointed because he showed immediate chemistry on the Ducks' first line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the preseason.

"Perry is one of the best goal scorers in the league, and Getz is the best center or definitely right up there. He looks to pass a lot and that's good for a shooter."

On his three-year Wild career, Heatley said, "Ups and downs. The first year there I thought was a decent year. The lockout year was a weird year, kind of struggled with some injuries and the same thing in the third year."

In the playoffs, Heatley was scratched the first two games. He drew in Game 3 of the first round and finished with a goal, five assists and a team-best plus-6 in 11 games. His saucer helped set up Nino Niederreiter's Game 7 OT winner in Denver.

Yeo on Heatley: "I really enjoyed coaching Heater. You always know a little bit about the player coming there, and when you have the chance to coach them, especially players like that, you end up appreciating them so much more. First off, you get to know the human being and what kind of person they are and what kind of teammate they are. … It was a real pleasure for me."

Boudreau again raved about the Wild, its players, what Thomas Vanek adds to the team and all of the Wild's young kids, especially Charlie Coyle and Erik Haula.

Oh, also Kuemper.

"I don't think they'll go 82 games without giving up a goal," Boudreau said. "I don't think we're licking our chops to be the first team that scores on him. We just want to come out and play hard and hopefully it's good enough to win. We love to play in front of our home crowd, so hopefully the guys aren't too preoccupied with it and play a little bit like they were on the road."