Carolina Hurricanes vs. Minnesota Wild: Lineups and Game Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes, still sporting the top point total in the Metropolitan Division, begin their first true road trip of the season with a matchup against perennial postseason participant, the Minnesota Wild. Former Cane Eric Staal remains in a prominent role in St. Paul, and while the novelty may have worn off for some, it is still somewhat weird seeing Staal compete against the Canes.

In the first of two matchups scheduled this season, the Canes will deploy Curtis McElhinney in net again. McElhinney has put together a nice 2-0 start, stopping 53 of the 57 shots sent his way, since joining the Canes at the close of the preseason. As for the skaters, Carolina is expected to return Trevor van Riemsdyk and Valentin Zykov to the lineup after they sat on Tuesday against Vancouver.

The Canes lines are projected as below:

Warren Foegele - Jordan Staal - Justin Williams

Micheal Ferland - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen

Brock McGinn - Martin Necas - Valentin Zykov

Jordan Martinook - Lucas Wallmark - Andrei Svechnikov

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton

Calvin de Haan - Justin Faulk

Trevor van Riemsdyk - Brett Pesce

Curtis McElhinney

Petr Mrazek

The Minnesota Wild return to the ice coming off their first win of the season, as they outlasted the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime on Thursday night. Their first win in game number three of the season also represented the first time they scored multiple goals in a game. The Wild will look to continue their offensive productivity on what is being billed as “80’s Night” at Xcel Energy Center.

Bruch Boudreau will look to take his roster and “whip it” into shape in what is expected to be a very difficult Central Division race where it seems “everybody wants to rule the world.” Devan Dubnyk is expected to be in net on Saturday and will hope to have his team relax as he tells the Canes to “stop, don’t do it”, when they want to shoot. Both teams will look to get the “jump” on the other with a quick start. But expect if the “invisible touch” of Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour to factor into the outcome by game’s end.

Other songs I considered shamelessly including:

• Thunderstruck - AC/DC
• I Melt With You - Modern English
• In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins
• Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles

Anyways, below is a projected lineup for the Wild:

Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Joel Eriksson Ek (could miss with injury)

Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund

Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Greenway - Charlie Coyle

Marcus Foligno - Matt Hendricks - Eric Fehr

Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba

Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn

Devan Dubnyk

Alex Stalock