Minnesota Wild @ Calgary Flames: Game 35

Minnesota Wild (17-15-2) vs. Calgary Flames (20-11-4)

Pengrowth Saddledome @ 8:00 CST

Television: KSTC (12/45)
Listen live on WCCO.com, or locally at 830 AM

For the Flames perspective, check out Red Mile

Tonight's lines:

• The Wild hasn't won on the road since a 6-2 victory at Nashville on Nov. 29, and has been outscored 15-6 in its last five contests away from home.
• The Wild’s 8 game winless streak against the Western Conference (0-7-1) is the second longest such streak in team history.
• The Wild has allowed the game’s first goal in 10 straight games
• Calgary is 11-4-3 at the Saddledome this season.
  
• Rene Bourque has four goals with an assist in his last three games.
• Kim Johnsson returned to Minnesota today to deal with a family emergency.
• John Scott missed his connection at Minneapolis to Calgary, so the Wild is shorthanded.

• Risebrough on not carrying an extra defenseman: "Sometimes this can happen in the first shift of the game, too. That’s the way it is."

  Risebrough on Johnsson: "It’s legitimate and it’s personal and he just has to try to resolve something. He’s personally OK."

Risebrough on whether he needs to "shake up" this roster with a trade: "I don’t see a lot of big options there. It’s obviously the manager’s job to search for those things, but at the end of the day, there’s no one thing that’s going to make things significantly better because of [certain] factors – some guys are hurt, we have some long-term objectives. That’s the way it is. Some guys we want to play so that they can get better by the game. Those players aren’t going to be gone. There’s no doubt you can look for changes, but I’m not sure that there’s a big significant change that’s going to make a significant difference. We just have to play better."

1. Will the defense be run ragged tonight with only 5 guys?
   
2. Can they bounce back from a horrible performance against Chicago?
   
3. Is this team in disarray? DR seems to think not, but many in the team of 18,000 disagree.
   
4. The Wild shut down Iginla last time, will he rebound?
   
5. Over/Under on Burns' TOI - 29:36