Scouting the Wild

Tonight’s game is the first of four meetings this season between the Kings and the Minnesota Wild, who had their five-game winning streak ended with a loss to San Jose on Thursday. The Kings and Wild meet in a matchup of teams ranked 24th and 28th, respectively, in goals per game this season, but the Wild have been on a bit of an uptick, with a total of 11 goals in their last four games. The Wild will be without winger Guillaume Latendresse, who suffered a concussion in San Jose. Josh Harding is off to a great start in goal, with a 4-0-1 record and a 1.18 goals-against average. For the latest on the Wild, check out Mike Russo’s great blog for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, followed by the expected lineups for both teams and the Wild’s full roster…

Russo’s Rants (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

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KINGS LINEUP
Gagne-Kopitar-Williams
Richardson-Richards-Brown
Clifford-Stoll-Hunter
Moreau-Fraser-Lewis

Mitchell-Doughty
Scuderi-Johnson
Martinez-Greene

Quick
Bernier

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WILD LINEUP
Dany Heatley-Mikko Koivu-Cal Clutterbuck
Pierre-Marc Bouchard-Matt Cullen-Devin Setoguchi
Darroll Powe-Kyle Brodziak-Nick Johnson
Brad Staubitz-Warren Peters-Colton Gillies

Marek Zidlicky-Nick Schultz
Nate Prosser-Justin Falk
Marco Scandella-Jared Spurgeon

Josh Harding
Niklas Backstrom

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WILD ROSTER
3 — Mark Zidlicky — D
4 — Clayton Stoner — D
6 — Marco Scandella — D
7 — Matt Cullen — C
9 — Mikko Koivu — C
10 — Devin Setoguchi — RW
14 — Darroll Powe — C
15 — Dany Heatley — LW
16 — Brad Staubitz — RW
18 — Colton Gillies — LW
21 — Kyle Brodziak — C
22 — Cal Clutterbuck — RW
25 — Nick Johnson — RW
39 — Nate Prosser — D
43 — Warren Peters — C
44 — Justin Falk — D
46 — Jared Spurgeon — D
48 — Guillaume Latendresse — LW
55 — Nick Schultz — D
96 — Pierre-Marc Bouchard — C

32 — Niklas Backstrom — G
37 — Josh Harding — G

Injured-reserve list
2 — Mike Lundin — D
5 — Greg Zanon — D