GAMEDAY: Wild at Flames

Saturday, 02.23.2013 / 2:18 PM

Minnesota Wild (8-6-2: 18 points, T-7th in Western Conference, 2nd in Northwest Division) at Calgary Flames (5-7-3: 13 points, 14th in Western Conference, 5th in Northwest Division)

The Minnesota Wild closes out a short Canadian road swing, tonight against the Calgary Flames. The teams met earlier this month in Calgary, with the Wild taking a shootout, 2-1, on Feb. 11.

Tonight, the team will be without Cal Clutterbuck, who suffered a lower body injury against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. In his absence, the Wild recalled forward Charlie Coyle from the Houston Aeros, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate. Coyle will be in the lineup, skating alongside Kyle Brodziak and Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Zenon Konopka will reenter the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the previous two contests. He’ll center Mike Rupp and Torrey Mitchell on the fourth line.

Niklas Backstrom will get the nod in net. He made 23 saves against the Flames in their first meeting. Backstrom is 3-0-1 in his last four starts with a 1.42 goals against average and a .945 save percentage.

On Thursday, the Wild improved to 4-1-1 over its last six games with a 3-1 win at Edmonton. The Oilers got on the board first, but Minnesota scored three straight to secure the victory. Matt Cullen scored twice and also assisted on Devin Setoguchi’s goal.

The Flames suffered a 3-1 loss to the hands of the Los Angels Kings on Wednesday. TJ Brodie scored the lone Flames goal, his first of the season. Joey MacDonald made 30 saves in the loss.

The Flames boast two of the most successful forwards to ever play the Wild. RW Jarome Iginla is the all-time leader against Minnesota in points (64), goals (35), and shots (223) and is second in games played (68) PPG (10) and a plus-17 rating. LW Alex Tanguay ranks fifth all-time with 44 points (14-30=44) in 56 contests.

Dust off your platform shoes and bellbottoms because it is Retro Night in Calgary.

The Wild will wear its WHITE road sweaters.

Matt Cullen posted his 15th career multiple-goal game and his 25th career three-point game Thursday in Edmonton. He also moved to 198 career goals in 1,047 career games. Since Jan. 27, Cullen is the Wild’s leading scorer with nine points (3-6=9). Cullen is also a plus-3 in his last two games.

Fans can guess who's going to be hot with the Wild's HotBox Fantasy Challenge presented by the Pioneer Press for a chance to win great prizes.

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Mikael Granlund will come out of the lineup for Konopka:

Parise – Koivu – Heatley
Zucker – Cullen – Setoguchi
Coyle – Brodziak – Bouchard
Rupp – Konopka – Mitchell

The D-pairs will remain the same as Thursday:

Suter – Brodin
Gilbert – Stoner
Prosser – Spurgeon

Backstrom is 14-9-5 with a 1.88 GAA and a .933 SV% in his career against Calgary –his second-lowest GAA against any Western Conference team.

We have to fill his shoes. We have to make sure the rest of our team is committed to playing a physical type of game…we have to make sure we find a way to make up for (Clutterbuck) not being in the lineup.

- Yeo on Clutterbuck being out of the lineup

Defenseman Justin Falk and forward Mikael Granlund will be tonight’s healthy scratches.

Clutterbuck is out with a lower body injury. Josh Harding didn't make the trip as he deals with multiple sclerosis.

RW Tim Jackman played at Park Center High School and spent two seasons at Minnesota State University, Mankato (2000-02).

The Wild has had five rookies make their NHL debut this season –D Jonas Brodin (1/25), F Charlie Coyle (2/4), C Mikael Granlund (1/19), G Darcy Kuemper (2/12), LW Johan Larsson (2/17). Six rookies have skated for the Wild this season – only Ottawa (eight) has had more rookies play this season.

Wild at Flames will be broadcast locally in high definition on FOX Sports North with a start time at 9:00 p.m. The game can be heard on KFAN 100.3 FM or online at Wild.com.

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Wild at EDM - Feb. 21

31	SHOTS	27
42	FACEOFFS	29
11	HITS	13
14	PIM	14
0/2	PP	0/2
3	GIVEAWAYS	7
6	TAKEAWAYS	11
11	BLOCKED SHOTS	14