PHILADELPHIA -- Yet another injury has again forced Wild coach Mike Yeo to juggle his lines.
Team captain and All-Star center Mikko Koivu is week-to-week with a shoulder injury -- reportedly a shoulder injury that could sideline him a month -- meaning Matt Cullen slides into the No. 1 center spot, and Carson McMillan, called up from AHL Houston, makes his season debut.
"I think we're used to that at this point," Yeo said of the constantly changing lineup. "The one thing that's going to be really important for us, with Mikko being out, we didn't handle it too well last time. We have to prove to ourselves that we can do a better job of that this time, continue to go out and play our game and not get taken away from our individual roles and the responsibilities we have as players, just go out and concentrate on what you have to do within the team concept."
McMillan, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound forward, has 3 goals and 9 points in 29 AHL games. Yeo said it's his size and toughness that earned him his first trip to the NHL this season.
"We're coming into Philadelphia and expect a physical game," said Yeo. "They've got a lot of big, strong, skilled forwards. We're just looking for a guy that's going to go out there and compete and play the game with an edge. Anything that we're going to have to do tonight, we're going to have to earn it and we're going to have to do it the hard way and he's a guy that can play that kind of game."
We had the Flyers' lines earlier, and here's what the Wild lineup probably will look like when they hit the ice tonight.
Dany Heatley - Matt Cullen - Nick Johnson
Darroll Powe - Kyle Brodziak - Devin Setoguchi
Cal Clutterbuck - Warren Peters - David McIntyre
Brad Staubitz - Carson McMillan - Casey Wellman
Marek Zidlicky - Nick Schultz
Mike Lundin - Justin Falk
Clayton Stoner - Jared Spurgeon
Josh Harding will start in goal for the fourth straight game, with Niklas Backstrom the backup.
Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK