Almost 20 years ago, I remember coaching a 9th grade football game where my team won 44-0. As a coach I should’ve been ecstatic right? Nope, we had 250 yards in penalties in that game and so instead of a rah rah speech congratulating our team on a rout, we instead were chewing our kids out over their lack of discipline.
With a 44-0 score that stern lecture probably fell on deaf ears. I wonder if Wild Head Coach Dean Evason were to chew out his club after their 3-1 win against Chicago on Saturday afternoon if the team would get the message.
Minnesota has been a top 5 offense throughout most of the season, but on Saturday the Wild seemed very reluctant to shoot against Chicago and that passiveness nearly came back to bite them. Chicago isn’t an elite team.
Its 7th in the Central Division and they seem to be in a selling mood. Blackhawks’ players are walking / skating on egg shells wondering if they’re going to get pulled aside to be told that they’ve just been traded.
Instead of taking advantage of a team that might be a bit mentally distracted the Wild went through shift after shift over passing, overhandling the puck and spending lots of offensive zone time accomplishing zilch. Unless you enjoy watching a team cycling the puck endlessly to just throw it away with an ill-advised pass you had to be annoyed.
That kept Chicago in the game far longer than they should’ve been, a game where they started backup goalie Kevin Lankinen and allowed the Blackhawks to believe they had a chance. Cam Talbot made some great saves in this game for the Wild, but you could sense the anxiety from the sellout crowd every time a Chicago player got ready to put another shot on goal.
You just knew that with enough time and opportunities one was going to find the back of the net. And sure enough the Blackhawks tied the game mid-way through the 3rd on a Seth Jones snipe.
Thankfully that mistake didn’t cause an implosion and the Wild were able to take back the lead late in the game when Kirill Kaprizov won a race for the puck in the Chicago zone before working the puck to Mats Zuccarello who dished it immediately to a wide open Ryan Hartman on a beauty of a tic-tac-toe play. Jordan Greenway would add an empty netter to seal a 3-1 victory a few minutes later.
If the Minnesota Wild still believe they are contenders why did we need to make a game like that against a bottom-dwelling team like Chicago so tough on ourselves?
Unlike their effort against Boston, where I felt the team was deliberate in its physical play and demonstrated better attention to detail in their own zone I thought the Wild were way too cute with the puck against Chicago.
At one point in the game, with coincidental minor penalties to Hartman and Patrick Kane the ice was more open with 4-on-4. Why not give Tyson Jost a chance to show us what he can do? He’s fast, he is skilled but why not give him a chance to show us what he can do with some more open ice?
Former Minnesota Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire was famous for chastising his team after victories if he felt something wasn’t right. I realize it can’t be doom-&-gloom all the time in your post-game speeches as a coach, but I don’t think today’s effort should be one where the locker room should be full of laughter and high-fives. They should feel relieved they didn’t screw the pooch. This time.
What did you think of this week’s slate of Wild games? Tell us on Twitter at @CreaseAndAssist!
Iowa Wild have fallen to the bottom of the AHL Central standings
Long layoffs towards the latter part of the season can be helpful to get players healthy. However, they can also give opponents time to catch up in the standings or to expand their lead over you.
Iowa finds itself in last place in the AHL Central Division after having the week off from games. A pattern of win one, lose two or three patch throughout most of February and March certainly played a role into the club finding itself in the Central Division basement.
At this point, it means if the Iowa Wild are going to make the AHL playoffs, they’re going to need to run the table but also get some help along the way. Their destiny is no longer entirely in their control.
Like their parent club, Iowa has had its issues defending in their own zone and at times the goaltending has been sub-par after Andrew Hammond went down with an injury. Hunter Jones, Dereck Baribeau and Trevin Kozlowski all struggled mightily in the crease.
Since the team acquired Zane McIntyre the goaltending has been mostly ‘good enough’ but defensive breakdowns late in games has dogged this team for much of the last two months. Unfortunately, the team has to lean on the former Thief River Falls and University North Dakota star because Jones and Baribeau have continued to be overwhelmed whenever they are given opportunities.
Offensively, scoring has also been more of a struggle in the last month and a half. Especially on the man advantage where the Wild have had plenty of opportunities but have failed to convert far too often.
Leading scorer Marco Rossi has flat lined and generates most of his scoring chances either for himself or teammates on the man advantage. Opposing teams know this and they give him less time and space and his effectiveness has been greatly reduced.
Meanwhile, players like Adam Beckman and Joe Hicketts who are often the other players the team tries to set up to pull the trigger on the power play have had difficulty finding the back of the net or even putting shots on goal. In other words, the Iowa Wild power play is predictable and fairly easy for opponents to neutralize.
Mitchell Chaffee, who returned from injury by being on fire offensively has cooled off and Calen Addison needs to be utilized more in a shooting role. This results in the team being a goal or two short most nights and there are not a lot of obvious internal solutions for Head Coach Tim Army to tryout.
There isn’t much time or almost any margin of error if Iowa is to somehow scratch and claw their way into the post-season.
Iowa Wild (23-24-4-3) 53pts 7th in the AHL Central
18.8% Power Play (20th in the AHL)
84% Penalty Kill (3rd in the AHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #23 Marco Rossi ~ 16G 26A = 42pts
2. #42 Kyle Rau ~ 15G 22A = 37pts
3. #18 Mason Shaw ~ 13G 22A = 35pts
4. #13 Nick Swaney ~ 12G 16A = 28pts
5. #11 Adam Beckman ~ 8G 18A = 26pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #55 Cody McLeod ~ 128 PIM’s
2. #14 Brandon Baddock ~ 97 PIM’s
3. #18 Mason Shaw ~ 85 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #70 Zane McIntyre (12-9-2) 2.42GAA .918% 1SO
2. #30 Dereck Baribeau (4-7-1) 3.10GAA .903%
Wild Prospect Report:
D – Carson Lambos (Winnipeg, WHL) ~ Ice’s alternate captain had an assist with one shot on goal, as Winnipeg rolled to a 4-0 victory over Calgary. On Friday, he had a goal on 3 shots on goal in Winnipeg’s 4-3 win over provincial rival Brandon. Lambos has 10 goals, 27 assists, 37 points, 49 PIM’s and is a +31 in 39 games.
D – Daemon Hunt (Moose Jaw, WHL) ~ Calgary-native had an assist on 2 shots in Moose Jaw’s 7-1 victory over the Wheat Kings. Hunt has 16 goals, 21 assists, 37 points, 41 PIM’s and is a +14 in 44 games.
LW – Vladislav Firstov (UConn, H-East) ~ 6’1″ winger had a goal as UConn rolled to a 4-1 victory over Northeastern. Firstov has 11 goals, 11 assists, 22 points, 16 PIM’s and is a +8 in 34 games.
D – Ryan O’Rourke (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) ~ Greyhounds’ captain had a goal and an assist on 4 shots in against Flint in a crazy 8-7 overtime victory on Friday. O’Rourke has 8 goals, 27 assists, 35 points, 61 PIM’s and is a +5 in 43 games.
RW / C – Pavel Novak (Kelowna, WHL) ~ Tabor, Czechia-native had an assist on 6 shots and went a paltry 5-for-12 on his draws in Kelowna’s 3-2 shootout loss to Kamloops. Novak has 24 goals, 35 assists, 59 points, 14 PIM’s and is +23 in 49 games.
LW / C – Caeden Bankier (Kamloops, WHL) ~ Lanky forward had an assist on 5 shots and went 10-for-15 on his draws in the Blazers’ 3-2 shootout victory over Kelowna. Bankier has 16 goals, 29 assists, 45 points, 22 PIM’s and is +9 in 58 games.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
