GAMEDAY: Wild vs. Avalanche

It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air, well, at least until about 7 p.m. when the Minnesota Wild hosts division rival Colorado Avalanche. Tonight is the second meeting of five between the Wild and Avs. Minnesota took the season opener on Jan. 19 at Xcel Energy Center, 4-2.

Minnesota is coming off a quick road trip to Canada, winning one of two on back-to-back nights. The club looks to regain its footing in the tight Northwest Division at home. The Wild has taken advantage of home ice this season, going 5-2 in Saint Paul.

Minnesota hopes that playing an Avs team, currently on a three-game skid, will re-spark some of that opening night offense. The Wild has been juggling lines over the past few weeks looking to find chemistry offensively. February has been unkind to the team offensively, scoring seven goals in six games, but hopes to find a little offensive love on Saint Valentine's Day. In the club’s last outing against the Vancouver Canucks, Dany Heatley was reunited with Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu during the second half of the contest. At the team’s morning skate, those three were again together and will be a combination tonight against the Avs.

The Wild reassigned forward Charlie Coyle to the Houston Aeros, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate. Forward Matt Kassian has cleared waivers and the Wild reassigned him to the Houston, as well. So, it looks like Pierre-Marc Bouchard will reenter the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the team’s last outing. He was skating on the wing with Matt Cullen and Cal Clutterbuck at the morning skate. As for the other Wild lines, it looks like they will be shuffled around and can be found in the line combos below.

The Wild lost on the tail end of its recent roadie, 2-1, to the Vancouver Canucks. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made his NHL debut stopping 26 of 27 shots, and was named the game’s third star. Devin Setoguchi scored the Wild’s lone goal, a power play tally at the 13:03 mark of the second period. Setoguchi took a short pass at the left side of the net from Matt Cullen, pivoted, and fired a shot high over the shoulder of Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo. Mikael Granlund picked up the second assist on the play.

 On Monday, the Avs dropped an overtime match with the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2. Mark Olver and Matt Duchene provided goals for the Avs, while Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves in the loss.

Yesterday, the Wild hired former fan favorite Andrew Brunette as Hockey Operations Advisor. Brunette might be best remembered in Minnesota for scoring the Game 7 overtime winner to upset, confidentially, the Colorado Avalanche during the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Brunette will drop the puck in a ceremonial faceoff prior to tonight’s contest.