There was a big question mark for the Minnesota Wild in the hours leading up to a do-or-die Game 6 on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Asked about his lineup after morning skate, Wild coach Dean Evason hinted that the group might have to work through an absence. “We think everyone’s available,” Evason said. “You never know.”
As the Wild took the ice for warmups ahead of the big game against the Dallas Stars, they did so with their full complement of players emerging from the tunnel. That gave the coaching staff creative license to shake some things up if they felt so inclined.
In the end, though, Evason stuck to the status quo for the most part.
After playing with the idea of putting his lines in a big blender with the Wild on the brink of elimination in the first-round playoff series, Evason instead decided only to make subtle changes to the top half of the lineup.
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Ryan Hartman centered Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson; Freddy Gaudreau centered Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello; Sam Steel centered Gus Nyquist and Marcus Foligno, and Connor Dewar centered Brandon Duhaime and Ryan Reaves.
Obviously, the biggest change was separating Kaprizov and Zuccarello, who have essentially be attached at the hip over the past few seasons. It’s also notable that Johansson and Boldy were separate considering they had such good chemistry late in the regular season.
As for the mindset entering Game 6, the Wild seemed focused on embracing the moment.
“Nobody is hanging their heads,” Evason said before puck drop. “We know that we’re in a situation where we have to win the hockey game tonight. We have to play better than we have in the previous two games, and if we do that, we’ll get ourselves into a spot where we compete for the series.”
Fleury continues as backup
After getting shelled last week in a blowout loss, Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has continued to served as the backup to Filip Gustavsson.
Nonetheless, the 38-year-old Fleury hasn’t complained. He has remained a good teammate to the 24-year-old Gustavsson, serving as his biggest cheerleader on the ice, and a helpful sounding board off it.
Asked how he’s seen Fleury support Gustavsson in the series, Evason noted how both goaltenders have been supportive of each other all season long.
“It’s been a wonderful relationship,” Evason said. “They compete hard for the net. They’ve done that all year. They’re doing it now. Whichever choice we make, the other one supports the other one completely, and that’s been a nice positive situation for us.”
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Pavelski still on mend
Though he’s clearly getting close to returning to the lineup, Stars winger Joe Pavelski did not play in Game 6 on Friday night. He has been in concussion protocol for the past week and a half after taking a big hit from Matt Dumba in the series opener.
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