Souhan; Wild’ Johansson Picking Up His Play [PODCAST]

The Minnesota Wild improved to 5-3 with a 5-3 win over the L.A. Kings Thursday night.  Marcus Johansson scored a goal and added an assist on the Kirill Kaprizov goal.  Star Tribune Sports Columnist Jim Souhan joined me on WJON today.  He says it was good to see the contributions from Johansson and the early goals to give the Wild a 3-0 lead in the first period.  He says the Wild took too many penalties in the 2nd and 3rd periods making this game closer than it needed to be.

The Timberwolves host Philadelphia tonight at 7 p.m., pregame on WJON at 6:30.  Jim says the Wolves may get point guard D'Angelo Russell (knee) back tonight but Karl-Anthony Towns and Juancho Hernangomez remain out due to Covid-19 restrictions.  Jim says the absence of Towns, Russell and Hernangomez has created minutes for players like Jarred Vanderbilt and Jayden McDaniels. He says both players have taken advantage of the opportunity.

The Twins are holding a virtual TwinsFest tomorrow.  Jim says the Twins are still the best local pro sports franchise at reaching out to fans to make players, coaches and personnel available to fans.  Jim says because of uncertainty about spring training and the DH in the National League free agent signings have been slow.

The Gopher men's basketball team plays at Purdue Saturday night at 6:30, pregame on WJON at 6:00.  Jim says the Gophers need this game to make up for last Saturday's loss at home against Maryland.