If there was any earth-shattering news from today's morning skate this would
have gone up sooner. Here's what you need to know:
- Todd White injured his shoulder against the Islanders at the same time
he hurt his elbow. He's been playing through it but aggravated it on Tuesday
in practice and wasn't as effective as he wanted to be on Wednesday. He'll
sit for the weekend at minimum.
- Alexei Zhitnik will sit out tonight and was the last player off the ice.
The other defensive scratch will be determined later today, but Mark Popovic
was the second-last player off the ice so I'd be mildly surprised if he
played tonight.
- Johan Hedberg gets the start in the first of back-to-back games.
-
Here are the expected lines based on the scratches.
I spoke to Ken Klee about Minnesota's style of play since he saw a lot of
them while he was playing for Colorado. He described them as very, very patient
and not afraid to try to win games 1-0. At the same time they're capable of
piling up goals with Gaborik, Demitra, Bouchard and Rolston. One of their set
plays is to flip a puck deep into the neutral zone for Marian Gaborik who has
explosive speed and great hands. Kozlov did the same thing for Hossa on a
regular basis last season and it worked more often than not. Klee suggested that
the best way to beat them is to score first, spend a lot of time in their zone,
and put pucks on net. It's a great strategy, but not one the Thrashers have been
putting into action much lately.
The Wild are also capable of playing a physical game and if they feel like it
they can dress Todd Fedoruk, Derek Boogard and Chris Simon. Fedoruk is the only
one of the trio that sees regular ice time though.
Feel free to come a bit early for Aaron's NASCAR night tonight.
Here are the details.
