Game #68: Minnesota Wild at Nashville Predators, Thursday March 10, 2011 at 7:00pm CST, Bridgestone Arena [GAME PREVIEW]

In many fairy tales and myths, heroes are often required to accomplish a series of tasks or tests in order to attain a specific goal.  Sometimes it’s to rescue a fair maiden being held by some evil entity.  Other times it’s to gain some sort of mystical power or a relic of historical importance or possessing a power.  Sometimes the hero is an average person, sometimes they’re of royal blood.  However, they’re almost always determined to be “pure of heart.”  Tonight, the Wild embark on their own series of tasks.  Their series involves a four-game road trip.  Of those four games, one (Vancouver) is against a strong Stanley Cup contender.  Two of the games, including tonight’s in Nashville and tomorrow’s in Dallas, are against teams that are in the hunt like Minnesota.  The fourth team (St. Louis), is a team out of the picture, but could prove to be a great stumbling block.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of starting such an important road trip in Nashville almost makes me sick to my stomach.  Nashville is one of those teams where Minnesota either plays really well against or completely falls apart.  Both teams have everything to gain and everything to lose.  A win for the Wild puts them ahead of Phoenix who is currently in eighth place.  A win for the Predators, wouldn’t get them in the picture, nor would they surpass Minnesota.  It would however make things tighter in the Western Conference, as if the standings weren’t tight enough already.  However, it is absolutely imperative to get the two points tonight, as it will be much more difficult to do so in Dallas tomorrow.

With the injury bug going through the Wild lockerroom, the look of the team continues to change daily.  Of course, the Wild will be without Mikko Koivu with that broken finger.  However, he is back on the ice and is traveling with the team.  Also out tonight is Cam Barker.  He is not on the road trip, and because of his absence as well as the questionable status of Clayton Stoner Minnesota has called up Marco Scandella from Houston.  Also questionable for tonight is Cal Clutterbuck who is suffering some mild effects from the head hit by Trevor Gillies while on Long Island. 

So it us up to the remaining heroes on the roster to decide how tonight’s game is going to be played.  Will they stand up for themselves?  Will they fight their way to every loose puck, every check, and every bit of adversity that comes their way?  Success or failure over these next four games will pretty much seal the team’s fate.  We can only wait to see if the story ends with a gory defeat or glorious victory.  I know I would prefer the end of this year’s story to be one of “and they lived happily ever after.”
   

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