Wild vs. Flyers: Game preview, how to watch, tale of the tape

As Wild fans, we're going to be spending our day collectively holding our breath waiting on the status of Mikko Koivu. The Wild's captain took an awkward fall into the boards early in Tuesday's game at Columbus and was hospitalized after spitting up blood. The hospitalization was called a precaution, and the Wild should release more information as to his status later today.

While Zach Parise is probably the Wild's best player, Koivu is probably the one most essential to this team. And it's not for intangibles, either. Not only has Koivu enjoyed an offensive renaissance this season, he's also the best center the Wild have, and it's not really even close. No other center in Minnesota's arsenal can match Koivu's combination of offensive, defensive, and faceoff prowess. We've seen in previous seasons that the Wild tend to fall apart in Koivu's absence, so while the Wild should remain cautious with his health, it'll also be vital for Koivu to get back as soon as he can.

Especially since the road to the playoffs isn't going to get any easier. The Wild are fourth in the Central, and the fifth-place team (the Nashville Predators) made a big move to address their most glaring weakness, acquiring #1-center Ryan Johansen. They paid a hefty price to do so, giving the high-upside Seth Jones to Columbus, but they dealt from a position of strength. Even if in the long run they'd be better off with Jones over Johansen, it's hard to argue that the Predators aren't a better team now.

Oh! By the way, there's an opponent in tonight's game! The Philadelphia Flyers head to the Xcel Energy Center, and they also made a trade yesterday. But in a contrast to Nashville, their move wasn't made with getting better in mind, as they essentially dumped Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn to the LA Kings.

Philadelphia has been a bit of a weird team this season. They actually get a decent amount of shots, but they're 29th in scoring. They give up a ton of shots, but opponents haven't been able to cash in. Jakub Voracek has been a big reason for the Flyers' offensive struggles. After a breakout season where he tallied 22 goals and 59 assists, he's had no luck this season. His four goals on 112 shots work out to a 3.6% shooting percentage- even worse than Jason Pominville's.

Their goaltending has been a strength for them this season. When Steve Mason faltered earlier, Michael Neuvirth stepped in and has been a rock since, posting a .934 Sv% that ranks second in the league. Neuvirth is 27, so it's possible that he could be entering his prime as a goalie, but it's more likely that he's going to fall back to the middle of the pack eventually. If that happens, it's going to be an even longer season for the Flyers.

Another player to watch out for tonight is Shayne Gostisbehere, a rookie defenseman out of Union College. Gostisbehere was a third-round pick who's stepped into Philly's lineup and posted 7 goals and 9 assists while showing a decent ability to control play for a 22-year-old. He's riding a 15% shooting percentage, but he's definitely been one of the few bright spots for the Flyers.

Puck drops at 7 tonight, so let's check out the tale of the tape.

Projected Lineups

Minnesota Wild

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Zach Parise	Mikael Granlund	Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker	Charlie Coyle	Nino Niederreiter
Thomas Vanek	Erik Haula	Justin Fontaine
Chris Porter	Jarret Stoll	Ryan Carter

Left Defensemen	Right Defensemen
Ryan Suter	Jared Spurgeon
Marco Scandella	Mathew Dumba
Jonas Brodin	Nate Prosser

Goalies

Devan Dubnyk

The Corpse of Niklas Backstrom

Philadelphia Flyers

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Jakub Voracek	Claude Giroux	Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl	Sean Couturier	Brayden Schenn
Chris VandeVelde	Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	Ryan White
Matt Read	Scott Laughton	R.J. Umberger

Left Defensemen	Right Defensemen
Michael Del Zotto	Radko Gudas
Nick Schultz	Mark Streit
Brandon Manning	Shayne Gostisbehere

Goalies

Steve Mason

Michael Neuvirth