Some housecleaning notes on the Minnesota Wild before they take on St. Louis in a meeting of red-hot Western Conference teams.
Veteran forward Mike Rupp, who has spent time with six NHL organizations, will make his season debut for the Wild.
Mikael Granlund, who is battling an upper-body injury, will miss his second straight game, with Rupp filling his spot.
Canadien 19 year-old defenseman Matt Dumba, who has appeared in 13 games for Minnesota this year and had his three-year contract activate with appearance number 10 earlier this season, will not dress tonight.
Instead, Minnesota will go with Nate Prosser, who has been in and out of the Wild lineup all year.
A final roster note has Darcy Kuemper, who allowed two goals on the first two shots he faced against Montreal Tuesday, as the backup to Niklas Backstrom tonight in net, as Josh Harding continues to battle a hamstring issue.
The Wild have won nine of their last 11, having lost just twice this month, and sit just two points out of the top spot in the Western Conference.
St. Louis has been tearing the ice up, moving ahead of Minnesota by a point having lost in regulation just three times all year.
