Minnesota Wild @ St. Louis Blues: Game 45 - Hockey and Wilderness

Minnesota Wild (22-16-6) at St. Louis Blues (25-12-6)

Scottrade Center @ 7:00 PM CST
Television: FSN
Listen Live at: KFAN (100.3) or Wild.com

For the St. Louis perspective, check out St. Louis Game Time

Minnesota Wild	St. Louis Blues
Devin Setoguchi - Mikko Koivu - Dany Heatley Casey Wellman - Matt Cullen - Nick Johnson Darroll Powe - Kyle Brodziak - Cal Clutterbuck David McIntyre - Warren Peters - Brad Staubitz Nick Schultz - Mike Lundin Marek Zidlicky - Jared Spurgeon Justin Falk - Clayton Stoner Josh Harding Matt Hackett	David Perron - David Backes - Chris Stewart Matt D`Agostini - Patrik Berglund - T.J. Oshie Vladimir Sobotka - Jason Arnott - Jamie Langenbrunner Ryan Reaves - Scott Nichol - B.J. Crombeen Carlo Colaiacovo - Alex Pietrangelo Ian Cole - Kevin Shattenkirk Barret Jackman - Roman Polak Jaroslav Halak Brian Elliott

The Wild, sans Colton Gillies, are up for a challenge tonight. This is not the same Blues team that the Wild have encountered twice already this season. They are confident, proud, and playing lights out hockey. They sat atop the West just a few days ago, and now sit in third in the Central, fourth in the West. It is actaully rather fun to see the Hawks, Wings, and Blues duking it out in the Central. Wish the Wild could be part of that.

The Wild come back with the Harding / Hackett tandem, despite a rather... unimpressive result against Chicago. Chuck Fletcher and Mike Yeo are ridiculously angry about their team's performance, a player has been sent packing, and a message has been delivered to the vets on the team, both in the media and in person. Anyone want to take bets on if the Wild play their tails off tonight?

The Blues will not simply stand idly by and allow the Wild to rediscover themselves. This matchup has become rather hostile in the past, and will likely be again tonight. The teams, for whatever reason, really don't like each other much. Which is good for a Wild team needing to find some emotion.

According to the Blues beat writer, Jaroslav Halak has never beaten the Wild. So, there's that. Any bit of confidence the Wild can find is a victory. Even a moral victory might be kind of nice tonight. Of course, the two points would be better.

Five Questions:

1. From aggressive to passive. Which team shows up tonight?
   
2. Did the team get the message yet, or is it going to take benching Koivu?
3. Can these two teams get through a game without trying to kill each other?
   
4. Can Harding spring back from a soft performance?
   
5. How does Lundin look in his first game back?
   

Enjoy the Wild's warm up songs before the game: