Minnesota Wild (2-2-0) 4pts 5th in the Central
2.50 Goals For (19th)
1.00 Goals Against (1st)
0% Power Play (28th)
92.3% Penalty Kill (4th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 2G 2A = 4pts
2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
3. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 2G 0A = 2pts
4. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
5. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 17 PIM’s
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 10 PIM’s
3. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 8 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-1-0) .67GAA .972%SP 2SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (0-1-0) 2.03GAA .875%SP
Vs.
Arizona Coyotes (2-2-1) 5pts 6th in the Pacific
3.20 Goals For (6th)
4.20 Goals Against (30th)
30.0% Power Play (2nd)
79.0% Penalty Kill (19th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #89 Mikkel Boedker ~ 5G 1A = 6pts
2. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 1G 5A = 6pts
3. #10 Martin Erat ~ 2G 2A = 4pts
4. #23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson ~ 1G 3A = 4pts
5. #50 Antoine Vermette ~ 1G 3A = 4pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #50 Antoine Vermette ~ 10 PIM’s
2. #19 Shane Doan ~ 9 PIM’s
3. #10 Martin Erat ~ 8 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (1-0-1) 2.31GAA .904%SP
2. #41 Mike Smith (1-2-0) 5.33GAA .822%SP
And here we go….yet another start on the season. With the exception of the lockout years and the year that the North Stars moves to Dallas, I cannot remember a more annoying start to the regular season. After starting with a home-and-home against the Avalanche, we had to wait another six days for the next pair of games. Then after the road series with Anaheim and Los Angeles, the Wild have had to wait another four days before playing again. Whoever created this season’s schedule should lose their job, because there is absolutely no excuse for the fact that Minnesota has only played four games, which at this point is the fewest in the league. Calgary and Boston have twice that number of games under their respective belts. To make it even more ridiculous, while Minnesota is playing only their fifth game of the season, both Calgary and Boston will also be playing, which means they will have both played nine games each. If you ask head coach Mike Yeo, he’s getting a little tired of just having practice. Sadly, Minnesota has thirteen scheduled back-to-back games for the season. Trust me, you don’t want to look at the month of March, which is usually the most crucial month when it comes to playoff seeding. Without looking at any of the other team schedules, something tells me that no other team has been “gifted” quite so many back-to-back games. Heck, if we could have just had more games by now, we just might have been able to avoid a few of those traffic jams. Like I said, someone deserves to lose their job.
While the Wild have spent most of their season so far in practice, one can only hope they’ve been working on the power play. So far, Minnesota has had sixteen power play opportunities, yet has not scored one goal with the man-advantage. The only teams that have a power play as bad as Minnesota’s are Winnipeg and Buffalo. They too have had just about the same number of opportunities yet without a goal. Although both Winnipeg and Buffalo have played six games, so I’m not sure which is worse. It’s not going to be easy to break the scoring drought either, but since Arizona only has a 79.0% penalty kill, tonight would be a great night to change the trend. During the pre-season when the Wild seemed to only be able to score on the power play, I made the foolhardy comment that it would be nice if they could score even strength. If only I knew how those words would come back to haunt me. Minnesota had issues with the power play last season, so I don’t know why I thought things were better after a few pre-season games. If they don’t solve the power play issue soon, I don’t know what they need to do. Although, taking Mikko Koivu off of the top power play unit might be a first step in the right direction. I suppose that’s going to earn me some hate mail from the Koivu supporters out there who think he can do no wrong.
I am however glad to see Minnesota success on the penalty kill. Yet while they’ve done well at preventing power play goals, they should expect a major test while down a man. Arizona has done what Minnesota has been unable to do. In the twenty power play chances they’ve had in their first five games, they’ve scored six power play goals. That my friends equates to a 30% power play success rate. That certainly will be tough to stop. I’m afraid that it will either be a case of feast or famine. If I haven’t painted a bleak enough picture for you yet, consider this. Remember those sixteen power play chances of Minnesota’s? Well, they’ve already let in a shorthanded goal. That’s not exactly a good sign of the power play’s abilities. However, it might make you feel better that at least Arizona has also let in a shorthanded goal of their own.
With the exception of the All-Star Break, the longest time between games for the rest of the season will be four days. So now, one could say this is the true start of Minnesota’s regular season. Hopefully with games on a regular basis from here on out, the Wild and their power(less) play will be more consistent.
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