ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Ducks will take on the Minnesota Wild in their third game of a six-game homestand. The Ducks are 0-2-0 during the current homestand after a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday and a 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
The Wild are on the second game of a back-to-back (SEGABABA) after beating the San Jose Sharks last night 4-2 in San Jose. They are currently second in the Western Conference behind the Winnipeg Jets.
“They just play really well connected,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. “They know where they’re going, they move the puck efficiently. You can just see a real connectivity to the way they do everything. They’re a veteran team and well-coached. I think they lead the NHL in the top-three or four in defensive analytics, so they’ll be a handful.”
After generating their lowest amount of 5-on-5 chances against the Canucks, Cronin tweaked the lines at practice yesterday and it looks like those lines will hold for tonight’s game.
Isac Lundeström was elevated to the top line alongside Leo Carlsson and Robby Fabbri while Mason McTavish was demoted to the fourth line. Ryan Strome, who was previously on Carlsson and Fabbri’s line as a winger, shifts back into the middle to center Frank Vatrano and Troy Terry.
Cronin said that Lundeström will give his team another strong faceoff option as Carlsson has struggled in the faceoff dot this season. Previously, Cronin lamented how faceoff losses and the string of events occurring after these faceoff losses can flip things against them in a matter of seconds.
“I try to play my own game and try to skate and win battles for (Carlsson and Fabbri),” Lundeström said. “Leo has great speed and Fabs is good at winning pucks back. It’s going to be a fun challenge and little bit new being on the wing, but I think I can play a little bit everywhere.”
Defenseman Cam Fowler did not participate in morning skate and while Cronin said Fowler would be a game-time decision, he did not offer an expanded explanation on why Fowler was absent. Per a team source, Fowler is dealing with an upper-body injury.
If Fowler does not play, both Jackson LaCombe and Urho Vaakanainen would draw into the lineup for the first time this season. Vaakanainen has been a healthy scratch for most of Anaheim’s games thus far while LaCombe was a healthy scratch against the Canucks.
Related: Ducks vs Wild Pre-Game Stat Pack
With the Wild having a back-to-back, they did not have a morning skate today. The expectation is that Filip Gustavsson will be in net after Marc-André Fleury got the start in San Jose last night.
Ducks Projected Lines
Isac Lundeström – Leo Carlsson – Robby Fabbri
Frank Vatrano – Ryan Strome – Troy Terry
Cutter Gauthier – Trevor Zegras – Alex Killorn
Brock McGinn – Mason McTavish – Brett Leason
Jackson LaCombe – Olen Zellweger
Urho Vaakanainen – Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov – Brian Dumoulin
Lukáš Dostál (confirmed)
Wild Projected Lines
Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matthew Boldy
Marcus Foligno – Frédérick Gaudreau – Ryan Hartman
Michael Milne – Marat Khusnutdinov – Jakub Lauko
Jonas Brodin – Jared Spurgeon
Jacob Middleton – Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm – Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson (projected)
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