From the Rink: Wild hosts Devils as standings get even tighter

Good day from Xcel Energy Center, where the Wild will partake in a rare Friday home game tonight against the New Jersey Devils.
Just how rare have Friday games in St. Paul been? Tonight's contest is just the second one played all season and the first since the Wild played the Winnipeg Jets on Black Friday, a game the Wild won 4-2.
The game tonight will be the final Friday home game this season, so there's that. Minnesota will, however, play on the road several times over the course of the rest of the season. Next week, the team will be in Detroit.

For the record: The Wild is 3-2 on Fridays overall this season.
Minnesota has to be hoping that winning trend can continue tonight, as the Wild is in search of its second win in eight tries since the All-Star/bye week. Since that layoff, the Wild has posted a 1-4-2 record and watched a host of teams catch up in the Western Conference playoff race.
That's the bad news.
The good news is, Minnesota is still sitting inside the postseason picture, currently holding the second wild card spot in the west.
The Vancouver Canucks won 4-3 on Thursday against Los Angeles, moving into a tie with the Wild at 59 points. But Minnesota has two games in hand, so it currently has the tiebreaker.
Chicago and Colorado each won as well, moving to within two points of the Wild and Canucks while Arizona remains four points back.
"It seems like it's that way every year for us, in this division and in this conference," said Wild forward Jason Zucker. "It's one of those things where you have to roll with the punches and do what you have to do and control what you can control. Right now is obviously a very vital time so we have to make sure we are getting these wins."
None of those teams are in action tonight, so it's a big, big opportunity for Minnesota.
The only win the Wild has in its past seven came in Newark last Saturday, a game Minnesota won by a 4-2 score.
The Devils are coming into town on the second half of back-to-back games following a 5-2 loss to the Blackhawks on Thursday.
The Wild held an optional morning skate on Friday at Xcel Energy Center. Here is what it looked like:

In case you missed it

• Here is today's
Wild Warmup
• Wild captain Mikko Koivu
chatted with the media
yesterday about his season-ending knee injury and what the future has in store for him

• Wild defenseman Matt Dumba is
lending his support
to his billet sister as she aims to knock out blood cancers
• If you haven't seen the latest Becoming Wild, check it out. Cameras followed the team to Las Vegas for its pre-All-Star game trip to the Nevada desert. Alex Stalock didn't play in the game, but he was mic'd up and steals the episode

• Iowa Wild defenseman Carson Soucy is
patiently awaiting his next opportunity
to reach the NHL
• Ryan Suter and Luke Kunin recently joined former Wild forward Wes Walz at Xcel Energy Center for the Kwik Trip Skills Clinic with area youth hockey players. WildTV was there to document it

The Wild will be without forwards Matt Hendricks and Victor Rask tonight. Minnesota will instead roll with seven defensemen, as Brad Hunt scratches in.
Here is what the Wild will look like tonight:
Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Charlie Coyle
Jordan Greenway - Eric Staal - Jason Zucker
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Luke Kunin
Kyle Rau - Eric Fehr
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Anthony Bitetto - Jonas Brodin
Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn
Brad Hunt
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
New Jersey enters on the second half of back-to-back games following a 5-2 loss in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Thursday.
The Devils' 50 points are second-fewest in the NHL, ahead of only Ottawa.
Here is how the Devils could line up:
Marcus Johansson - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Joey Anderson - Nico Hischer - Jesper Bratt
Kenny Agostino - Pavel Zacha - Nick Lappin
Brett Seney - Kevin Rooney - Drew Stafford
Andy Greene - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Mirco Mueller - Steven Santini
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Watching/listening to tonight's game:
If you're attending tonight's game, here's what's going on: