Wild persevering through numerous injuries

SATURDAY'S STORYLINES: When the Wild face off against the Phoenix Coyotes tonight they will do so without forward Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck will miss his second game with a lower body injury. Clutterbuck's injury continues a long string of injuries that have hampered the Wild this season. Going into tonight's game, Minnesota will have dressed 32 different players and lost 102 man games to injury. Despite battling injuries Minnesota continue to remain the top team in the NHL, with 41 points. It seems no matter who the Wild put into the lineup they succeed. In San Jose, Minnesota lost goalie Josh Harding in thefirst period. Rookie Matt Hackett was thrown into his NHL debut and managed to stop all 34 shots he faced. He continued his spectacular play in L.A. on Thursday,allowing 2 goals on 44 shots. In Los Angeles, with Devin Setoguchi (lower body) and Clutterbuck out, the Wild were again forced to make another call to Houston, this time recalling 30-year-old Hastings, Minn., native Jeff Taffe. Taffe made an immediate impact, assisting on Mikko Koivu's goal24 seconds into the game. How do the Wild keep winning? "It goes to show we have a lot of depth in this room and we have guys who can step in and fill any role. It shows great character in this room," said defenseman Clayton Stoner. Darroll Powe noted that players being comfortable and confident with the system is also important. Talk to most every player called up from Houston this season and they have noted how comfortable they are with the system. The Aeros and Wild play the same style, keeping consistency throughout the whole organization. "We really talked about that a lot," saidcoach Mike Yeo. "We want to have a lot of consistency and how important that is as an organization to have the same philosophies in how we play the game and how we want our players through the whole organization to grow and develop. It is very important for those guys to come up and not have to think too much and learn something new." The success isn't only limited to the Wild; as of today the Aeros sit tied for first place in the AHL. "It is very impressive what they are doing down there, not only because we have called up players but they have had injuries, as well," Yeo noted. "The coaching staff is doing a great job, not just winning hockey games but creating that culture that we want guys going out and doing things that winners do, but also preparing guys to come up and play well for us." HE SAID IT: "For me this is going to be a message we are going to bring across tonight before the game. I think we have to respect what a challenge this is going to be tonight. There are some parallels between the two teams -- they always find a way. They are a motivated group, they are focused and prepared group, and they have a really good understanding of their game and how they want to play it. They just go out and win hockey games." Yeo on the Coyotes