From the Rink: Wild's fourth line making big difference at a key time

WINNIPEG -- With so much of the attention in this First Round Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Wild and Jets focused on the top-6 forward groups of each team, it's the fourth lines for both clubs that were arguably the most consistent in Game 1.
Minnesota's fourth line of Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Daniel Winnik didn't find the scoresheet, but in terms of driving possession and gaining momentum, it was the Wild's best line of the game.

"One thing that our line has wanted to get better at is [applying] constant pressure and not peel away," Winnik said. "They've got skilled guys who are banking on us peeling away and I think when we're pressuring, it doesn't give them much of a chance to have a clean breakout."

On the road, where Minnesota doesn't have last change, that means the fourth line has to be confident enough to provide that aggressive forecheck even against the Jets' potent top two lines.
It's a challenge they said they enjoy.
"I think they're going to try and put their top guys against us and there were some times [in Game 1] where we were against Ehlers and Wheeler and Laine and Scheifele. And I think we did a good job against them," Foligno said. "Puck management against those guys, it frustrates them when they don't get the puck and they're playing d-zone and they're tired when they come back down the other way. We're just trying to keep it simple, I know it's cliche to say, but we're really trying to get bodies to the net, pucks to the net and just be physical."

After plenty of line shuffling through a good chunk of the season, the trio of Foligno, Eriksson Ek and Winnik has been together now for the past few weeks. As the successes have come, so has Boudreau's confidence in the group.
Chemistry is often talked about with skilled lines; how this goal scorer fits in with that playmaker, and so on. It's often an overlooked component when it comes to fourth lines, but with how the Wild deploys its forward group, rolling all four lines for as long as possible, chemistry is an important element for them too.
It helps that they've been able to build that chemistry in recent weeks.
"It makes a huge difference," Winnik said. "It took me awhile here to acclimate because I played with, at least the same one guy [in Washington]. Me and Jay Beagle played together for over 100 games. You learn a lot with the consistency of playing one or two guys.
"When you see the successful fourth lines, they're always stuck together. People point to that Islanders line that was great, [Cal] Clutterbuck, [Casey] Cizikas and [Matt] Martin, and they never got taken apart. That's a reason why, they were so comfortable with one another, they knew where they were going to be on the ice."

Here are the projected lineups for Game 2:
WILD
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Nino Niederreiter
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Jordan Greenway - Matt Cullen - Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Daniel Winnik
Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy - Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
JETS
Kyle Connor - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler
Nikolaj Ehlers - Paul Stastny - Patrik Laine
Jack Roslovic - Bryan Little - Joel Armia
Andrew Copp - Adam Lowry - Brandon Tanev
Josh Morrissey - Jacob Trouba
Joe Morrow - Dustin Byfuglien
Ben Chiarot - Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Steve Mason
Related:
- Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Winnipeg, Game 2 - Photo blog: Wild skates at Bell MTS Place on Friday - Playoff Central