Wilderness Walk: Take Flight

Tonight the Wild host the Philadelphia Flyers and have a chance to build some momentum. The Flyers are outside the playoff picture in the brutal Metropolitan Division despite having gone on a pretty nice double digit win streak earlier in the season. Getting another win in the bank, clinching the playoffs, and, perhaps most importantly, convincing themselves that the issues causing the slump are gone are all on the line tonight for the Wild tonight.

Wild News

After victory, a sense of normalcy returns for Wild - StarTribune.com
Weeks of tinkering - and five losses - gave way to consistent line combinations at the Wild's practice Wednesday afternoon.

Good news for Wild: No changes at practice, for a change - StarTribune.com
Not much happened down at Xcel Energy Center Wednesday morning, which for your sake could be a good thing as the Wild looks for its first winning streak since Feb.

Martin Hanzal celebrates reunion with family, first goal with Wild
Wild center Martin Hanzal has been reunited with his family after nearly a month apart. He celebrated by scoring a goal with his family present during Tuesday's 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at the Xcel Energy Center.

Behind Enemy Lines - Broad Street Hockey

The Flyers, the 2017 playoffs, and how to get yourself through 11 more games - Broad Street Hockey
Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs, ya kidding me? Playoffs?

Jets 3, Flyers 2: 10 things we learned from a disheartening road defeat - Broad Street Hockey
The playoffs aren’t happening. But it would still be nice to see the Flyers deliver strong nightly efforts. This wasn’t one of them.

Off the Trail

30 Thoughts: Jakub Voracek's MVP vote would go to Brent Burns - Sportsnet.ca
Who's got your Hart Trophy vote? When asked about it, Philadelphia Flyers Jakub Voracek said his would go to Brent Burns. That and more in this edition of 30 Thoughts.

Statistically Speaking: Turris, Scheifele step up - Article - TSN

Alex Ovechkin salutes Russia, USA with custom skates (Photos)
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin will wear custom-painted skates during warmups for his team’s Thursday game and then auction them off with the proceeds going to charity. The skates will be worn before the Caps’ Russian Heritage Night against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Verizon Center.

Goalie, shooter get skates jammed together in hockey oddity (Video)
Kevin Dayer is a forward for HC Sion-Nendaz 4 Vallées, a Swiss Division 1 team. Sebastien Pittet is a goalie for Star-Forward, a Swiss Division 1 team, which we know is confusing because he’s a goalie playing for "Star Forward," but whatever.

Power Rankings: Tortorella and No. 1 Blue Jackets the season's biggest surprise | The Hockey News
With their latest run, the Blue Jackets find themselves on top of our Power Rankings -- to the surprise of just about everybody.

Value, not scoring, should be what matters most at this point in Hart race | The Hockey News
The Art Ross race could swing a few voters when it comes to the Hart. And while scoring matters, the definition of the Hart dictates that a player’s value to his team should be the deciding factor.

Puck drops at 7 pm CST. You can catch the game on Fox Sports North.