Minnesota Wild home from Canada for Thursday game against Los Angeles

CATHY WURZER: Well, the Wild will host the La Kings tonight here in St, Paul. Joining us to talk about the upcoming hockey game and all things new in Minnesota sports, we're joined by Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally, of course, is the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine and co-host of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. Eric is the other host of that show and the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL. Hey, guys.

ERIC NELSON: How's it going, Cathy?

CATHY WURZER: Good. Thank you, Eric. How are you doing, Wally?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I'm good. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: Good. Thank you. You sound like you're probably somewhere-- are you at a game or something like that?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I am. Today is the last day of the regular season for high school football. And I'm covering Maple Grove and Minnetonka, two of the top 10 teams in the state. So, yeah.

CATHY WURZER: It's already the end of the season. Oh my gosh. Say-- I'll ask you a little bit about that later on-- I want to begin with the Vikings. Vikes somehow managed to get a win in Chicago, and so they're now 2 and 4, and they are hosting San Francisco, right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. And, yes, they beat Chicago. But it was ugly. I mean, I don't think either team walked out of there thinking they played a great football game. But they won the game. It was the first game without Justin Jefferson. And it really showed. I mean, the offense struggled, even against a mediocre to subpar Chicago Bears team. But they got the win. They're 2 and 4.

Should they win on Monday night-- and it is an ABC Monday Night Football game, which is good. I mean, all of America will see it. You'll either know or you won't know about the Vikings after this because they're playing the very good 49ers team. But if they beat the 49ers, now, all of a sudden, they're 3 and 4.

And realistically, with a softer schedule coming up, they could make a run at the end of the season here and become a playoff team. But should they lose, go to 2 and 5, it's going to be tough.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Eric, talk to me about San Francisco.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. San Francisco is elite, Cathy, one of the top teams in the NFL. Now they did lose last Sunday in Cleveland. So the 49ers' record is 5 and 1. And they had a chance to win. Their field goal kicker, Jake Moody, missed a potential game-winning kick in the final minute.

Their quarterback, Brock Purdy, is a fantastic story. He played collegiately, just down I-35 at Iowa State in Ames. He's 10 and 1 as a starter since taking over for Jimmy Garoppolo back in 2022. This guy was the last player chosen in the NFL draft in 2022. And whoever is picked last, they dub him Mr. Irrelevant. And there weren't too many people thinking, fast forward a few months, that he'd be the starter for the 49ers. But he has been excellent.

Now, the 49ers do have three key guys banged up. One is Christian McCaffrey. Another is Deebo Samuel, who's like a Swiss army knife. He does it all. He can run. He can catch. He can throw. And their offensive left tackle, Trent Williams, who is a bodyguard for Brock Purdy. If those guys play or don't play, that could impact the game.

But one thing we know-- the 49ers defense led by Nick Bosa and Fred Warren, they play physical smashmouth football. And Minnesota typically is not a physical team. So as Wally said, if the Vikings can somehow get a victory on Monday Night Football, it would be a signature win. There's no doubt about it.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So we'll see what happens with that. Let's talk Gopher-- Gopher football. Let's see. Are we playing for which strange trophy this weekend, Wally?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: [CHUCKLES] That's very good. We're playing for the pig, Floyd of Rosedale, which, of course, is the trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Minnesota-Iowa game. And it has been a rumor here in Minneapolis for the last eight years because it's been eight straight now since the Gophers have beaten the Iowa Hawkeyes, which means that they have not beaten them in the P.J. Fleck-era.

Of course, the Gophers were off last week. They're coming off of a humiliating loss to Michigan, 52 to 10 from a couple of weeks ago. But the good news-- and I'm going to go glass half full here-- should they win this game, then they're only a half game out of first in the Western division of the Big Ten. Which, as crazy as that sounds, they still have a shot, believe it or not, to get to the Big Ten Championship game.

But they'd have to run the table, and that would include a win at Ohio State. But I'm looking at it half full. A win this week over Iowa would bring them-- and it'd bring them that trophy that they haven't had for, as I said, the last eight years.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Oh, wow. So we have the pig trophy, the axe, the jug. OK, so we'll see what happens with the Floyd of Rosedale. Let's talk Wild, Eric Nelson-- tonight, Elliot, Minnesota.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. And first and foremost, Cathy, on this gloomy day in the Twin Cities, I'm stunned that Wally is Captain Sunshine. That doesn't happen often. But, hey, we'll go with it.

[LAUGHTER]

Yeah, we've got hockey tonight downtown Saint Paul, LA Kings, Minnesota Wild. The Kings are 1, 1, and 1. They have three points this season. One of their top players is ex Wild star, Kevin Fiala. He already has four assists in three games for Los Angeles. Now, the Wild won 5 to 2 against the Canadiens in Montreal on Tuesday night. That finished off a 1 and 1 road trip in Canada.

Minnesota's 2 and 1 this season. The Wild have 4 points. Marc-André Fleury, his first start of the season in goal, he was outstanding against the Canadiens. And the Minnesota special teams shined as the Wild had two shorthanded goals and 3 power play goals in that win. Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice in the game.

And it's funny because Kirill Kaprizov tends to eclipse his teammates. He's that good. But Eriksson Ek is also very good, and his game continues to get better. So this will be a good challenge for the Wild tonight. Both the Kings and the Wild were in the playoffs last season and are looking to improve their fortunes this year.

CATHY WURZER: Hey, guys. I hear that three Twins were named Gold Glove finalists. That's big.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Two pitchers and Carlos Correa. Pablo Cruz-- Pablo Cruz? Listen to me-- Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray and then Carlos Correa. So they're nominated. We'll see if they win. I think Correa has won at least one or two in his past. He had a great year in the field-- not so good at the plate but a great year in the field.

CATHY WURZER: And I'm also wondering about the baseball playoffs. Are you guys watching the playoffs at all?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, we are. Houston and Texas, the Lone Star State battle. They'll play again tonight. That's 2 to 1 Rangers up in that one. The Astros got a win last night. And Philadelphia and Atlanta play later today-- I should say Arizona. And it's 2-0 Phillies. That games in Phoenix. So the D-backs have to win.

One more quick Twins note too, Cathy. This just came to me via email. The Twins announced their diamond awards. Sonny Gray is the most valuable Twin; third baseman, Royce Lewis, the most outstanding rookie; catcher, Ryan Jeffers, the most improved Twins player; and shortstop, Carlos Correa, is the Twins defensive player of the year. Those awards will be given out in January in the off season.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. By the way, Wally, I heard someone yelling in the background. Who's winning between Maple Grove and Minnetonka?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: They're going to kick off in about two minutes here. So we'll find out soon. But it should be a good one. Maple Grove is the defending state champions. And Minnetonka is one of the top five teams in the state. Looking forward to a great game.

CATHY WURZER: Enjoy. See you guys later-- Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson, our sports guys.