From the Rink: Wild seeks better start Tuesday against Coyotes

ST. PAUL --The Minnesota Wild knows its starts to hockey games have been a problem through the first five games of the regular season.
It knows opponents have noticed too.
That's why a better start will be critical if the Wild hopes to rebound on the second half of back-to-back games tonight against the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota lost 4-2 to the Nashville Predators on Monday at Bridgestone Arena but came away thinking the team's overall game was headed in the right direction.
The Wild was the better team over the second half of the game, specifically the third period, but was unable to find the tying goal in a 3-2 game. The Predators added an empty-net goal with 11 seconds left to round out the scoring.
But where the Wild has been consistently subpar is at the start of games.
"They know how we've started games. They're gonna come out flying," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "They've got an awful lot better team than their record indicates so if we're not on top of our game we're in trouble."

Boudreau said he has hammered away at having a better sense of urgency at the start and maintaining that level throughout the game.
At 1-2-2 on the season and six points behind the Predators for the top spot in the Central Division, Boudreau said he knows his club can't take too many more mulligans if it wants to stay in the race for the top spot in the division and for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It's only October, but with parity in the NHL at an all-time high, the jockeying for playoff spots gets tighter and tighter every season.
"If you look at our schedule, we have to get to .500 quick and then you have to start moving above .500 if you want to stay in this race," Boudreau said. "I've been through it where you've had bad starts and it makes it an awful tough grind for the rest of the year and you want to be able to play with a little bit of comfort zone here in case you do have a bad stretch but we don't want that to happen right now."
The Coyotes have played four games this season and been shutout in three of them, most recently a 3-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Gila River Arena on Saturday.
Arizona is on the front end of a four-game, week-long road trip that goes from Minnesota to Chicago and Winnipeg before concluding one week from today in Columbus.
A five-game homestand awaits after that, so there's no doubt the Coyotes want to get themselves right on this trip before heading home for a couple weeks.
"They lost their last game 3-nothing to Buffalo and had four days off, so I gotta believe that they're gonna be chomping at the bit," Boudreau said.
The Wild will send its same lineup out as last night in Nashville, with the only change coming in goal. Former Coyote Devan Dubnyk will earn the start, looking to build on his strong start to the season.
Former Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper is expected to get the start in goal for Arizona. He will be making his season debut after posting a 2-6-2 record with a 3.22 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage in 10 games with the Coyotes last season.
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Jordan Greenway
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Nino Niederreiter - Eric Fehr - Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno - Matt Hendricks - JT Brown
Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin - Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
COYOTES
Richard Panik - Derek Stepan - Clayton Keller
Lawson Crouse - Dylan Strome - Christian Fischer
Michael Grabner - Brad Richardson - Nick Cousins
Brendan Perlini - Mario Kempe - Vince Hinostroza
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jason Demers
Kevin Connauton - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Alex Goligoski - Ilya Lyubushkin
Darcy Kuemper
Antti Raanta
Related:
- Wild hopes it's turned corner despite loss in Nashville - Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Arizona