About the Wild - 01-09-11
A preview of the Wild.
When and where: 7 p.m., Consol Energy Center.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Wisconsin.
Record: 20-15-5, 45 points. The Wild is in 11th place in the Western Conference and third place in the Northwest Division.
Leading Scorer: Martin Havlat (right), 36 points (9 goals, 27 assists).
Last Game: 3-1 road win against the Bruins. Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist for the Wild.
Last Game against the Penguins: 4-3 home win, Jan. 11, 2010. Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist for the Penguins.
Wild Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Matt Cullen. As a member of the Senators, Cullen recorded eight points in six playoff games against the Penguins last season.
Ex-Penguins on the Wild: Chuck Fletcher, general manager; Todd Richards, head coach (Richards was the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins).
Ex-Wild on the Penguins: Pascal Dupuis, RW; Zbynek Michalek, D.
Useless Wild Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Bill Guerin holds the record for most shots on goal in a game for the Wild. He put 12 on net as a member of the Bruins in a 5-3 home loss, Nov. 8, 2001.
Best Wild Video We Could Find: Dupuis winning the Wild's hardest shot contest at its 2003 skills competition with a slapper clocked at 100.2 MPH (1:00 mark):
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (18-9-2, 2.26 GAA, .920 SV%) for the Penguins and Jose Theodore (7-5-2, 2.63 GAA, 2.63 SV%) for the Wild.
Injuries: For the Penguins, forwards Sidney Crosby (head) and Eric Godard (nose) are out. Forward Mike Comrie (hip) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Wild, forward Antti Miettinen (leg) is day to day. Goaltender Niklas Backstrom (groin) is questionable. Forwards Guillaume Latendresse ("lower body"), James Sheppard (knee), goaltender Josh Harding (knee), and defenseman Marek Zidlicky (shoulder) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: Given that the Penguins played with only 11 forwards Thursday in Montreal and they didn't have practice yesterday, this is a semi-educated guess at what their lines and defensive pairings could look like tonight:
Tyler Kennedy - Jordan Staal - Evgeni Malkin
Chris Kunitz - Mark Letestu - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Arron Asham
Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland
-The Wild's primary lines and defensive pairings against the Bruins Thursday were:
Andrew Brunette - Mikko Koivu - Chuck Kobasew
Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Kyle Brodziak - Martin Havlat
Patrick O'Sullivan - Matt Cullen - Cal Clutterbuck
Eric Nystrom - John Madden - Brad Staubitz
Nick Schultz - Brent Burns
Clayton Stoner - Greg Zanon
Marco Scandella - Cam Barker
Notes:
-The Wild isn't too upset to be missing Crosby.
-Talbot has 49 career goals, 49 career assists and 98 career points.
-Martin has 149 career assists.
-The Wild is 7-2-1 in its last 10 games.
-Clutterbuck's No. 22 has been the Wild's best-selling jersey since the 2008-09 season.
-In the 10 seasons of the Wild's existence, the Penguins have managed to only beat this franchise twice. All-time, they have a 2-7-2 record against Minnesota.
-The Penguins' point percentage of .182 against Minnesota is their lowest against any one opponent.
-Speaking of dominance against the Penguins, in 25 career games, Theodore (right) has an 18-4-3 record, 2.41 goals against average, .914 save percentage and three shutouts against Pittsburgh
-Brunette has 247 career goals.
-Miettinen has 197 career points.
-Bouchard has 197 career assists.
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(Photos: Elsa/Getty Images)