Minnesota Wild (24-10-3) 51pts 4th in the Central
3.70 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
2.97 Goals Against Per Game (17th in the NHL)
17.7% Power Play (21st in the NHL)
79.7% Penalty Kill (16th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 17G 30A = 47pts
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 11G 25A = 36pts
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 18G 14A = 32pts
4. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 10G 17A = 27pts
5. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 16G 10A = 26pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 61 PIM’s
2. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 56 PIM’s
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 38 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (9-2-2) 2.48GAA .922%SP
2. #33 Cam Talbot (15-8-1) 3.00GAA .909%SP
Vs.
Montreal Canadiens (8-25-7) 23pts 8th in the Atlantic
2.18 Goals For Per Game (32nd in the NHL)
3.65 Goals Against Per Game (31st in the NHL)
13.3% Power Play (31st in the NHL)
73% Penalty Kill (30th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #14 Nick Suzuki ~ 8G 16A = 24pts
2. #73 Tyler Toffoli ~ 7G 14A = 21pts
3. #92 Jonathan Drouin ~ 6G 14A = 20pts
4. #20 Christian Dvorak ~ 7G 9A = 16pts
5. #62 Artturi Lehkonen ~ 5G 10A = 15pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #55 Michael Pezzetta ~ 37 PIM’s
2. #8 Ben Chiarot ~ 32 PIM’s
3. #20 Chris Wideman ~ 28 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #30 Cayden Primeau (1-3-1) 3.84GAA .898%SP
2. #35 Samuel Montembeault (2-6-4) 3.73GAA .904%SP
Lines:
Montreal Canadiens
Toffoli~Suzuki~Evans
Dauphin~Dvorak~Hoffman
Drouin~R.Pitlick~Anderson
Pezzetta~Poehling~Lehkonen
Chiarot~Savard
Clague~Petry
Romanov~Wideman
Primeau
Motembeault
Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov~Hartman~Zuccarello
Fiala~F.Gaudreau~Boldy
Greenway~Eriksson Ek~M.Foligno
Dewar~Sturm~Duhaime
Spurgeon~Goligoski
Jo.Benn~Dumba
Kulikov~Merrill
Kahkonen
Talbot
If you were wondering, I promise I’m really fighting saying the words “I told you so.” So much of what happened Saturday night, were things I worried about while I was writing the preview. If we’re being honest with ourselves, the Minnesota Wild got lucky, and that’s a fact Jack.
I hate to be a bit of a Debbie Downer, but tonight could very well be a repeat of Saturday. Minnesota is facing yet another down on their luck team, and that is where the danger lies. We caught a little bit of coverage after the loss to Colorado on NHL Network, and they pointed some interesting things out. For as offensively powerful as the Avalanche are, Minnesota kept things in check. They didn’t let them run the tables, and not only did the game have to go to overtime, but a shootout as well. I hope you realize this, but Montreal kept their game on Saturday against Colorado close as well. Not only close, but it too had to go to overtime.
However, you’re probably looking at Montreal’s stats, and saying “but they’re in the bottom of just about every team stat.” Yes, yes they are, but that my friends is where the danger lurks. I’m sure there were players on the Avalanche roster who thought this should be an easy game, but look what it got them. If the Montreal Canadiens can push the Colorado Avalanche, who is to say they won’t push Minnesota as well.
There were some roster decisions and player usage that were questionable in Saturday’s game against Chicago. I’m still trying to figure out why the team went with Jordie Benn instead of Calen Addison. When you’re still missing Jonas Brodin from the lineup, it makes absolutely no sense to go with the less mobile Benn over Addison. And then there’s the continual usage of Frederick Gaudreau in situations like the power play and overtime. Yes, we understand that head coach Dean Evason knows Gaudreau’s abilities from their time together in Milwaukee, but he’s not the solution for everything. In fact, he’s far from it.
We also need to look at the goaltending situation. I’m sure there are some out there that are saying, but Kaapo Kahkonen had to take the game to a shootout to win.” You would be correct, and yet very, very wrong at the same time. If you only look at the stats after the game, you would be correct. But if you actually watched the game, that is where you would find yourselves being very, very wrong. If not for Kahkonen, the final score could have easily been 5-2 Chicago.
If there’s anything this team needs to focus on more and more, it’s avoiding taking so many penalties. Sure, Montreal has a pretty dire power play, but that’s still not something you want to test over and over again. If there are any penalties to avoid, it’s the easily avoidable ones. During Friday’s game in Chicago, Minnesota took a too many men penalty. That is the kind of penalty that drives me crazy, and yet they get caught. Professional athletes don’t like to be called “lazy”, but too many men and pucks over the glass are truly lazy penalties.
Montreal should come out strong, simply because they need to break free from consecutive overtime losses (Colorado and Vegas). At least that’s what the Canadiens fans want and need, but whether that happens is another thing. If you need a strange fact for the day, here it is. The Canadiens had to postpone games due to sick players, yet they’ve played more games than Minnesota. And not only have they played more games, but they’ve had a much more regular schedule than the Wild. But one must ask, whose favor will that play into?
Because this game has “trap” written all over it, I can’t say I feel great about this one. Minnesota has the ability and skill to make it a one-sided affair in their favor, but will they and can they is the question. Of course they can, but putting it into action is another thing. If they can avoid the penalty box and keep things simple, they stand a very good chance of making this an easy win. But Montreal most likely won’t make this an easy one, and that is the challenge.
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