Wild vs. Canes: Road trip begins with some names out of the lineup
98. Saturday, April 2 . 45-15-8. 109. 41-20-5. Bally Sports North. Hurricanes -1.5. 6 p.m.
It’s been a minute, but the Minnesota Wild are back on the road.
The Wild, who completed a franchise-record nine-game homestand on Thursday, begin a stretch of four straight contests away from St. Paul on Saturday night against Carolina. It is the Wild’s first road contest since a March 11 matchup in Columbus.
And they do it with a bit of a banged-up roster at the start of the final month of the regular season.
Defenseman Jon Merrill did not make the trip with the Wild after he suffered an upper-body injury in the overtime loss to the Penguins. And while rookie forward Matt Boldy did make the trip, he won’t be on the ice this weekend with an upper-body injury as well.
Marc-Andre Fleury starts for #mnwild.
— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) April 2, 2022
Matt Boldy (upper-body injury) won’t play and likely not tomorrow.
Tyson Jost will play with Frederick Gaudreau and Kevin Fiala. Nick Bjugstad centers fourth line. Alex Goligoski draws back in with Jon Merrill (upper-body injury) out.
“How bad? I don’t know a number to put a time frame on (the injury,” Wild coach Dean Evason said of Boldy in a pregame media availability session on Saturdayu. “But he’s jhere so it’s not like he’s back home like Jonny Merrill. Obviously that’s a little more serious..”
Evason did not have any updates on Merrill’s injury but said he did not believe it was season-ending.
And, on top of that, Marcus Foligno continues to play hurt.
Even with that adversity, Minnesota enters April on a 9-1-2 run over its past dozen contests, which includes a seven-game winning streak that the Penguins snapped. Kirill Kaprizov also led all NHL players with 14 goals in the month and tied the franchise record with 83 points on the season.
Evason said depth is one of the Wild’s strength and this road trip is an opportunity to show that.
“We feel very comfortable with anybody playing against anybody,,” Evason said. “We’ve always felt very good about the people we’ve had here, that we feel comfortable about putting them in (the lineup).”
The Wild edged the Hurricanes 3-2 in a Feb. 12 matchup at the Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota has a 3-6-3 all-time mark in Carolina.
The Hurricanes lead the Metropolitan Division and are tied with Florida for the most points in the Eastern Conference with 98. Carolina is 4-0-2 in its last six games.
Betting odds
WynnBET has Carolina favored by 1.5 goals at home on Saturday night.. The Hurricanes also are the favorite on the moneyline at -155 Minnesota is the underdog at +135 and the over/under for the matchup is listed at 6.5 total goals.
Upcoming Wild schedule
Sunday, April 3: @Washington, 6 p.m. CST
Tuesday, April 5: @Nashville, 7 p,m. CST
Friday, April 8: @St. Louis, , 7 p.m. CST