Minnesota Wild (4-2-0) 8pts 4th in the Central
3.17 Goals For (7th)
1.00 Goals Against (1st)
0% Power Play (29th)
94.7% Penalty Kill (2nd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 3G 4A = 7pts
2. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 2G 3A = 5pts
3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 2G 3A = 5pts
4. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 4G 0A = 4pts
5. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 2G 2A = 4pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 17 PIM’s
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 10 PIM’s
3. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 10 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (4-1-0) .81GAA .966%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (0-1-0) 2.03GAA .875%SP
Vs.
New York Rangers (4-4-0) 8pts 7th in the Metropolitan
2.62 Goals For (17th)
3.25 Goals Against (23rd)
9.1% Power Play (25th)
79.3% Penalty Kill (19th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #61 Rick Nash ~ 8G 1A = 9pts
2. #20 Chris Kreider ~ 2G 4A = 6pts
3. #26 Martin St. Louis ~ 1G 5A = 6pts
4. #16 Derick Brassard ~ 3G 1A = 4pts
5. #12 Lee Stempniak ~ 2G 2A = 4pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #20 Chris Kreider ~ 23 PIM’s
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 9 PIM’s
3. #15 Tanner Glass ~ 9 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #30 Henrik Lundqvist (4-3-0) 3.14GAA .895%SP 1SO
2. #33 Cam Talbot (0-1-0) 2.89GAA .886%SP
Back on the road again. So far this season, the Minnesota Wild are sporting a 1-2-0 record on the road. With the exception of the power(less) play, Minnesota has played very well on the road. In other years, as fans we often dread the road trips, because not only would they lose, but they would play horribly. Thankfully, that has not been the case this season. Of course, we only have three road games to reference due to the relative lack of games. With tonight’s and tomorrow night’s games, I think we’re really going to start to see if this year’s Minnesota Wild is a serious threat to the league, or if our start is a flash in the pan.
One thing I like about playing the New York Rangers, is that they’re one of those teams that success against has been hard to come by. In the early years, it was pretty much a guaranteed loss against the Rangers. Over the Wild’s history, they have, if I counted correctly, a 6-9-0-0 (remember the days of ties?) record with the Rangers. The success has come in the more recent years, but I still worry. Tonight we face last season’s Eastern Conference Champions. Sure, they’re not the same team as last season, but they weren’t exactly slated to win the conference either last year.
Of course, Minnesota is heading into New York with confidence and energy. It’s not every day that the Minnesota Wild are able to tally seven goals on a team. I hope that’s a result that people stood up and took notice of. Even though in the past few years, the Minnesota Wild have been working to change their style of play, there are many fans around the league that still cling to the belief that “the Wild are killing the game.” Yet, while the Wild did tally seven goals and vastly outplayed the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, it seems that many around the league didn’t even notice. If you’re like me, you often tune into the late game on CBC. Of all the games played that night, the Minnesota-Tampa Bay game was the only game they didn’t show a score for. I haven’t figured out of it’s a matter that they couldn’t believe it happened or didn’t want to believe it happened. Hopefully Minnesota can put up goals like that again, and doing do on the road tonight and tomorrow night would be an excellent way to get the rest of the league to wake up.
I’m going to remain hopefully optimistic. It’s the best I can do.
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