VANCOUVER, B.C. -- The Minnesota Wild have seen their share of ups and downs this season along with a substantial amount of injuries but as they get ready pass the halfway point – game No. 41 -- of the season they are right where they want to be.
Coach Mike Yeo summed it up beautifully after morning skate on Wednesday.
"I think if you would have asked us back in October if we would have been alright playing Vancouver tonight with a chance to post 50 points in our 41st game, I think we all would have taken that," he said.
If the Wild are going to upset the red-hot Canucks, who are 6-2-1 in their last nine games, they will have to find a way to score goals. Minnesota has scored just 16 in their last 10 games and has gone 1-6-3 in that stretch.
The offense should get a pretty solid spike tonight with the return of forwards Devin Setoguchi and the Casey Wellman. Setoguchi has been out since suffering a lower body injury Dec. 6 at San Jose. With Setoguchi in the lineup, the Wild were 18-7-3 and sitting in the top spot in the entire NHL. Without Setoguchi the Wild have gone 3-6-3 and dropped to the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Setoguchi is excited to get back on the ice.
"It's been nearly a month, and it was really tough to have to watch and not be able to help the guys on the ice,” he said. “It's extra exciting tonight because it's a big divisional matchup with one of our rivals. it's going to be a really tough game because they have a great team over there, but the pace of this game fits my style of play and I am pumped to get back to it."
Setoguchi will skate on the Wild's top line with Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley in Vancouver.
Wellman may not have the star power of Setoguchi, but his natural speed should be a big help to the Wild as they try to match lines with the high-flying Canucks. When asked about his return, Wellman cracked a large smile and said, "It feels great to be back in the lineup, and I feel like I was playing some good hockey when I got hurt so hopefully I can pick up right where I left off tonight."
Yeo was also asked about the return of the two key forwards.
"First off, it gives us the advantage that we are going into this game with four pretty solid lines," he said. "Vancouver has a very deep team that knows how to score, and getting these two guys back will really help us in terms of our matchups."
