Wild at Rangers: Gameday Notebook
As the Rangers get ready to take on the Wild tonight at the Garden, here are a few pregame notes for both teams:
- New arrival Michael Sauer will wear number 56 and be paired with Paul Mara tonight.
- With Rozsvial out until probably the Carolina game next week, this will be a nice 4 game audition for Sauer.
- According to Newsday, in practice this morning, the Gomez-Callahan-Avery line stayed intact from the Ottawa game. Zherdev skated with Dubinsky and Sjostrom. With the Drury-Naslund-Antropov line staying together, this means Zherdev is skating with the 3rd line.
- Apparently the cryptic "lower body injury" press release from the Rangers yesterday on Rozsival is a league mandate. Unless he bruised a testicle, and the NHL didn't want to embarrass the guy, why not just say where the man is hurt?
- The Rangers have scored first in each of their past six games (4-2-0).
Where the Wild Things Are:
- Wild forward Marian Gaborik scored five goals and had an assist in a 6-3 victory the last time these two teams met, Dec. 20, 2007, at Xcel Energy Center.
- Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson spent his first two NHL seasons with the Rangers and has 13 career points in 19 games against them.
- NHL Network was reporting last night that Wild C Mikko Koivu is out for a week with a knee injury.
- After getting just two shots on goal in the first period Sunday against Edmonton, the Wild put 23 shots on goal in the second period, establishing a franchise record for shots in one period.
- The Wild are in a stretch of 14 out of 17 games on the road. After the Rangers, they will visit the Islanders, then to Calgary and Edmonton. Talk about a road trip.
Be sure to check in tonight for the Open Game Thread!
