Fresh off of a win in their 2011-12 season opener, the Minnesota Wild will head to the Nassau Coliseum to take on an Eastern Conference foe, the New York Islanders in their first road game of this NHL season.
The Islanders has their season debut at home on Saturday, and were shut out by the Florida Panthers by a score of 2-0. The Wild hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets at the XCel Energy Center, and were victorious by a score of 4-2.
Minnesota will play this one without forwards Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brad Staublitz, both of whom are serving suspensions. Bouchard's suspension, one that will sit him down for two games because of a high-sticking incident in the season opener, came down on Sunday. He will miss this game and tomorrow night's game against the Ottawa Senators.
Here are the likely line pairings for the Wild with Bouchard and Staublitz absent:
Setoguchi-Koivu-Heatley
Powe-Cullen-Latendresse
Bulmer-Brodziak-Clutterbuck
Gillies-Johnson-Kassian
And the likely defensive pairings:
Zanon-Zidlicky
Schultz-Scandella
Stoner Spurgeon
Niklas Backstrom will get the start between the pipes in this one for the Wild again.
The puck will drop pretty early for this one, with a start time of noon Central. You can watch the game on Fox Sports North or Fox Sports Wisconsin, or you can check out KFAN-FM 100.3, as well as any of the other Wild Radio Network affiliates, for the radio call.