Wild taking things one game at a time

ST. PAUL --For the Wild to make it out of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs intact, it needs to win all three of its next games against the Winnipeg Jets. That's no short order. But it helps to break things down, to take it one game, one period, or one shift at a time.
That's how Minnesota is approaching Game 5 on Friday night in Winnipeg. It's just the next game on the schedule -- potentially the last game on the schedule, too, but only one game nonetheless.

"It's kind of what you try to do right from the start of the series but it becomes even more important in this situation. You can't look at the hill you've got to climb," said Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk. "It's gonna be important for us to take that game that we played at home on the road and just put everything we have into the next game and see what happens."
On the eve of the do-or-die Game 5, the Wild is ready to switch things up in hopes of galvanizing the team. While the defense and Dubnyk have been lights-out for most of the series, the team has at times struggled to light the lamp.
Thursday morning's practice at Xcel Energy Center not only saw some new faces but also some new line combinations. While most of the "Black Aces" have been skating separately from the team, recent call-ups Kurtis Gabriel and Kyle Rau joined the Wild as the two Iowa Wild players most likely to find themselves called to action.
Gabriel rotated on a line with Joel Eriksson Ek, Daniel Winnik and Jordan Greenway; Rau skated with Matt Cullen, Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno on the third line. There's another fresh face ready to make his playoff debut, as well.
Defenseman Ryan Murphy has 172 NHL games under his belt, but has never played in the postseason. However, he'll get his chance on Friday, slotting in on the third defensive pairing with Nate Prosser. Carson Soucy will be out of the lineup, despite having played above and beyond expectations since his late-season recall.
"He's a really good puck mover," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau of Murphy. "We really like what [Soucy] has done and he's gonna be a really good player for us, but there's just more experience in Murph and he is an offensive player.
"We have to score more than one goal to win a game, or two goals to win a game against these guys. Not that Murph is gonna score three and get two assists or anything but his history is that he's been a better offensive defenseman."
Meanwhile, the red and green practice jerseys of the top two forward lines were shuffled a bit. Nino Niederreiter re-joined Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund for the line that started Game 4, while Charlie Coyle played with Eric Staal and Jason Zucker. The hope is that a change of scenery will do the players good, especially those like Coyle and Niederreiter who have struggled to find a groove after starting the year with injuries.
If the changes work for the Wild, it will be back in St. Paul for Game 6 on Sunday night. But that's still a little too far down the road for faces around the room.
"We're not looking at three wins, we're looking at one tomorrow and then we'll shift our focus after that," Dubnyk said. "Every single guy in here believes."

Morrissey suspended for Game 5

The NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Wednesday afternoon that Winnipeg's Josh Morrissey would be suspended for Game 5 of the First Round following his cross-check against Eric Staal in Game 4.

"The receiving team always thinks it should be a whole lot more, but the League does this every night and they usually get it right," Boudreau said. "Whatever the League thought is fine by me."
Without Morrissey in the lineup, Winnipeg may be missing most of its defensemen for Game 5. Toby Enstrom hasn't played since March 23 with a lower-body injury, and Tyler Myers hasn't practiced since leaving Game 3 with a lower-body injury. Dmitry Kulikov is also out, and hasn't played since March 8.

Related:
- Wild doesn't have to look far for comeback inspiration - Minnesota prepares for most difficult test of the season