Minnesota Wild (28-20-5) 61pts 4th in the Central
2.28 Goals For (27th)
2.38 Goals Against (6th)
17.6% Power Play (20th)
79.3% Penalty Kill (23rd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 20G 14A = 34pts
2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 6G 25A = 31pts
3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 15G 12A = 27pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 9G 17A = 26pts
5. #24 Matt Cooke ~ 7G 14A = 21pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 55 PIM's
2. #24 Matt Cooke ~ 34 PIM's
3. #2 Keith Ballard ~ 31 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #37 Josh Harding (18-7-3) 1.65GAA .933%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (5-10-2) 3.02GAA .899%SP
3. #35 Darcy Kuemper (5-3-0) 2.22GAA .924%SP 1SO
Vs.
San Jose Sharks (33-12-6) 72pts 2nd in the Pacific
3.02 Goals For (5th)
2.31 Goals Against (5th)
19.0% Power Play (14th)
82.8% Penalty Kill (11th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #19 Joe Thornton ~ 6G 47A = 53pts
2. #8 Joe Pavelski ~ 28G 23A = 51pts
3. #12 Patrick Marleau ~ 21G 26A = 47pts
4. #88 Brent Burns ~ 14G 15A = 29pts
5. #57 Tommy Wingels ~ 10G 15A = 25pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #10 Andrew Dejardins ~ 70 PIM's
2. #18 Mike Brown ~ 45 PIM's
3. #27 Scott Hannan ~ 35 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #31 Antti Niemi (26-10-6) 2.38GAA .913%SP 2SO
2. #32 Alex Stalock (7-2-0) 1.62GAA .942%SP 2SO
Click "Continue Reading" for the rest of the article…
Have you had your morning coffee yet today? Have you planned an afternoon nap? These are not normally thoughts that go through my mind on a Saturday morning. Usually, I'm thinking "finally, it's Saturday and I can relax." And considering it's a bit cold outside my only thought is writing this article and then relaxing. Usually my plans are to get caught up on the shows that are waiting for me on the DVR. At some point, I have to head to the store to get stuff to make tonight's dinner. Yet amongst my low demand day, I have to find a way to stay awake for a game that starts at 9:30pm tonight. And by the time the Wild game actually starts, I will have watched two college games thanks to the North Star College Cup.
I know many of us are feeling pretty good after Thursday night's regulation win against Chicago. I know I wasn't expecting that, especially after Tuesday's pathetic showing in Dallas. I was expecting to see more of a ridiculously lethargic Wild, who appear not to care how they play. The pleasant surprise was that we go to watch a Minnesota Wild who cared how they played and it showed. They had energy from the first drop of the puck. Even better, they were pitching a shutout until the end of the game. While it would have been great if Darcy Kuemper had added a shutout to his stats, but it was not to be. I'll take the win, because Chicago is the kind of team who could have actually managed to tie the game up at the very last second. Plus, considering our very own version of "Clockgate" there at the end of the second period, I'm sure the officials could have found enough "lost" time to put back on the clock for Chicago to take a faceoff in Minnesota's zone. Yet we survived, and considering some nights, that was an accomplishment in itself.
So now the challenge for the Wild is to take the same energy from Thursday's game into an arena that has not been kind to them. Not only do I normally cringe going into a game against the Sharks, I cringe even more when I see they're on a five-game winning streak. The Sharks have the best current streak going, second only to the unbelievable eight-game win streak of the unlikely Columbus Blue Jackets. Not only are the Sharks on that streak, but they managed to take down the currently soaring Winnipeg Jets. As Wild fans, we know well that injuries can effect a team, even for the better. We had those games earlier this month where we were dressing a distinct youth movement due to injuries to Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, and Josh Harding. However, San Jose's five game win streak is impressive considering their injuries. Now they're big names of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau aren't injured, but they do have injuries to Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl as well as others. If those two weren't injured, they would either be in their top five scorers or just outside of it. Those are injuries that can and often do hurt on most teams. San Jose just has such fantastic depth, that they're able to not crumble. Of course the true test for the Sharks is whether or not they can make it count when it matters.
Okay, I grew up in the extreme southeast corner of Minnesota. We're essentially a no-man's land when it comes to high school hockey. We're pretty much tucked in that corner between Wisconsin and Iowa. Football, basketball and wrestling are the sports of choice. There are teams, but not many and they're usually not ranked and rarely make it to the State Tournament. For a team to make it to the tourney, they're pretty much going to be one of the four high school teams from Rochester. However with that in mind, tonight I will get to see Eriah Hayes playing in the National Hockey League. I grew up maybe 15-20 minutes from Hayes' hometown of La Crescent, MN. There has been a hockey program in La Crescent for as long as I can remember, and if I remember correctly, the Apple Capitol of Minnesota received some money from the Mighty Ducks to help develop the Lancers. La Crescent won't be seen at the State Tourney any time soon, but when Hayes' managed to make it on to a D-I hockey team (Minnesota State-Mankato), you almost had to realize there was something special about Hayes.
Who knows, if the Sharks manage to win the Stanley Cup, the Cup just might make an appearance in Houston County.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
