Early in the Minnesota Wild’s history, the team had a lot of distinct influences from the Montreal Canadiens’ dynasty days. General Manager Doug Risebrough was a role player on those great teams of the late 70’s and 80’s that won the Stanley Cup and he selected Hall of Fame center Jacques Lemaire to be head coach. Lemaire had already won 11 Stanley Cups; 9 as a player and 1 as a consultant and 1 as Head Coach of the New Jersey Devils prior to arriving in Minnesota. Lemaire and Risebrough would hire two more Canadiens teammates in Mario Tremblay as an assistant coach and Hall of Fame defenseman Guy Lapointe as its Director of Amateur Scouting. These former players who were connected to perhaps the greatest dynasty in NHL history added credibility to an expansion franchise. Only Lapointe still remains, and since then the team has shifted to embrace the traditions of another franchise; the Pittsburgh Penguins. While current General Manager Chuck Fletcher and Head Coach Mike Yeo (and Todd Richards before that) and his assistant in former Penguins’ defenseman Daryl Sydor never had the Stanley Cup collection of the previous group it was attempt to catch another organization’s success in a bottle and bring it to the State of Hockey. So what should Wild fans make of the team’s current trend of giving jobs to so many players who were a part of that memorable 2003 run to the Western Conference Finals?
The team has brought back from that 2003 squad, Darby Hendrickson and Andrew Brunette as assistant coaches as well as Brad Bombardir and Richard Park in player development roles. Perhaps they are channeling some of that ‘defy the odds’ mentality into a group that has been told many times by experts that they are still not quite ready to contend for a Stanley Cup. No one expected that 2002-03 team to make the playoffs let alone win two series against the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks respectively. Not sure if there would be any way to quantify it, but just by pure happenstance it appears to be working. Can the Wild pull off a victory against the Metropolitan Division leading Penguins tonight?
1st Period Thoughts: The Penguins’ top line would get a jump on the Wild’s top unit, as Patric Hornqvist worked the puck in deep as Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby went on the forecheck. Then a clock issue caused the game to be stopped for almost 2 minutes after an icing call. It was really odd. The officials allowed both teams to change. The Penguins kept the Wild bottled up in their own zone for nearly a full-minute, as their defenseman pinched down to hold the zone and working it back in deep and Minnesota seemed to be waiting for the puck a bit. It almost looked like a power play at times with how well Pittsburgh was able to control the play in the Wild’s end. When the Wild did manage to break out of their own zone, the Penguins were backchecking effectively through the neutral zone giving Minnesota precious little time and space. Even when the Wild were breaking out of the zone it was mostly by chipping the puck off the boards or glass instead of the sharp tape-to-tape passes we’ve grown used to. The Wild didn’t have their first reasonable offensive chance as Zach Parise tracked down a puck and without any other options available he moved out front and attempted a backhander that was dismissed by Thomas Greiss. A minute or two later it was the 2nd line of Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle and Mikko Koivu giving the Penguins’ some problems in their own zone but despite all of their pressure all they could manage were a few point shots from Marco Scandella and Christian Folin respectively. I think the Wild are best served to keep it simple as the Penguins were playing responsibly defensively. The long passes were not working very well, especially through the neutral zone where Pittsburgh was really making it tough for the Wild to have any kind of clean entry into the offensive zone. The Wild also a bit careless in their own end as the defense was guilty of a poor decision with the puck down low to Kunitz who fed it to Crosby for a quick shot that was blocked up into the netting. Minnesota’s top line would get their feet moving as Parise fed a pass from down low out to the point where Folin stepped into a slap shot that Greiss would juggle a bit before pouncing on the biscuit for a whistle. A minute or so after that chance the Wild had another golden opportunity as Ryan Suter made a pretty diagonal pass to a crashing Jason Zucker that just failed to connect as his redirection just missed wide. The missed chance would swing the other way, as the Penguins struck first as Nick Spaling swept up a failed clearing attempt by Mathew Dumba and skated towards the Wild goal as Brandon Sutter screened himself right into Kuemper who fell forward making for an easy wrist shot goal for Spaling. 1-0 Pittsburgh. The goal deflated the crowd which was already pretty quiet by the defensive chess match that had been taking place throughout the 1st period. I think the Wild are playing passive and giving Pittsburgh too much respect. They are waiting and looking a bit static and making it easy for the Penguins to deny time and space. Minnesota out shot the Penguins 6-5, one of their more modest efforts all season long.
2nd Period Thoughts: The Wild wanted to use its speed to go on the attack but the Penguins were quick to retreat and out man Minnesota along the wall to force a turnover and stymie the rush. Pittsburgh would patiently use this formula to add to their lead as Brandon Sutter used the boards to chip a puck by a pinching Nate Prosser to give the Penguins a 3-on-1 rush. On the 3-on-1 Sutter raced in and with no pressure whatsoever decided to pull the trigger himself and his snap shot beat Kuemper to put the Penguins’ up 2-0. The defensive breakdowns continued as another failed pinch resulted in a 2-on-1 but this time Kuemper bailed out his team with a nice glove save on Hornqvist. It’d be one thing if the Wild was taking risks that was at least resulting in some quality scoring chances, but the team was not getting any kind of look at the Penguins end at all. Minnesota would finally get a bit of a break as Blake Comeau knocked down Scandella from behind for an obvious interference call. On the power play the Wild had some ok puck movement, but precious few shots were being put on goal. The best chance came towards the middle part of the power play as Parise managed to squeeze a cross-ice pass over to a wide open Jason Pominville but his wrist shot was easily stopped by the sharp angle he was forced to take when he pulled the trigger. The Wild would come up empty on the power play, but the team was too unselfish with the puck. A great example, Jonas Brodin leads perhaps the cleanest breakout all game and he works the puck up to Pominville who passes it across to Parise who had Brodin breaking for the net but he was shadowed by Spaling so instead he tries to thread an improbable pass that was knocked to the corner. Moments after that the Wild had another nice entry of the offensive zone and as Vanek dished it to Niederreiter instead of taking a quick shot the Swiss-forward would try one more move and the puck would be poked off his stick and nothing came of it. As the ice started to open up and Minnesota started to attack it was the 4th line that would give the team an example to follow. Justin Fontaine would carry the puck into the Penguins’ end, dropping a pass back to Ryan Carter who fired a wrist shot that was stopped by Greiss and then Fontaine pounced on the rebound but the Pittsburgh goalie made a great save. Still, it was the kind of simple play the team had been desperately missing thus far. The Wild appeared frustrated by the Penguins’ strong defense but they were not doing themselves any favor by slowing the game down and playing into Pittsburgh’s hands. Minnesota would play with fire as Scandella would get called for delay of game when he sent a puck into the Wild bench. Pittsburgh took full advantage of their opportunity as Kunitz set up Evgeni Malkin for a one-timer that beat Kuemper just seconds into the power play and just like that it was 3-0 Penguins. The Wild would get a gift of a power play just a minute later as Sutter was called for holding. For all the lethal efficiency of the Pittsburgh power play, you got to see a lot less movement and less creativity by the Wild. Beyond passing the puck around to the point men, the Wild had little in the way of ideas to create a prime scoring opportunity. The Wild’s more experienced power play unit had better puck movement and even when they set up a prime chance for Mikael Granlund skating into the high slot his shot was blocked wide of the mark and they’d come up empty on the man advantage. The Penguins looked relaxed and calm in the waning seconds of the period as Minnesota continued to settle for shots from the perimeter. One player who tried to remedy that situation was Ryan Carter who tried to move in close for a chance that was stopped by Greiss before charging into the blue paint and a scrum would break out as a mass of bodies piled towards the goal. No goal on the play, but the net result was a Penguins’ power play as Malkin got a roughing call while Carter was tagged with a slashing and roughing minor. The last few seconds would expire without further incident and Minnesota has some soul searching to do as they’re down by 3 going into the 3rd. Too many passes and attempts to set up the fancy play instead of just keeping it simple. The team will have to kill off that power play if its to have any chance whatsoever but right now the Wild are selling themselves short. They are playing like a team that is in awe of the Penguins.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Penguins would start the 3rd with 1:30 of power play time to work with. The Penguins power play was looking for the nail in the coffin, but Minnesota was pressuring the puck well never allowing Pittsburgh to get settled. With a big kill under their belts, the Wild tried to claw their way back into the game. Minnesota was using a more simplified approach, taking the shots when the opportunity presented itself as well as taking their chances to work the puck closer to Penguins’ crease. The result was far better scoring chances and Pittsburgh was reduced to playing rope-a-dope. While Minnesota was able to get the first shot on goal, getting players in position to pounce on rebounds was an issue for the Wild. Minnesota would draw another power play as Thomas Vanek had was held up by Steve Downie. At this point, you’d have to guess its a must score situation for the Wild. The team ventured out there with Mikael Granlund, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Mikko Koivu and Ryan Suter because Zach Parise was no where to be seen on the Wild bench. The group was predictably passive and predictable; with the best chance coming off a redirection by Vanek off a Koivu feed that hit the side of the Penguins goal. The Wild would come up empty on the power play and you could sense the team was a little deflated by it. Perhaps sensing his team needed a spark, Kyle Brodziak would start a fight with Simon Despres after he took a little offense to a stick jab he gave towards Erik Haula during a battle for the puck. Brodziak was looking to take advantage right away as he was looking to throw haymakers but on his first big throw Despres would duck and he’d lose his balance and he’d fall to the ice and the scrap was over. No winner, and even Brodziak was a little annoyed at the indecisive fight. Brodziak knew he’d get an extra penalty; and he did as he got a roughing minor to go along with his fight major giving the Penguins another power play. Yet who knew, the Penguins power play would help provide the spark the Wild needed. The Wild were again aggressive on the penalty kill and this was creating turnovers as Ryan Suter stole a puck and made a quick pass off the boards to Nino Niederreiter who raced in on a shorthanded breakaway where he beat Greiss with a forehand to backhand move to cut the Penguins’ lead to two, 3-1. Minnesota was taking every opportunity to go on the rush but Pittsburgh was matching up well to take away time and space. Pittsburgh’s Christian Ehrhoff would get tagged for high sticking giving the Wild an important power play late in the game. Minnesota was not messing around and Granlund would drive the net that turned into a pile of bodies and the puck would squirt out to Koivu who fired it on goal that seemd to go in but it was scooped out by the arm of Marcel Goc. The overhead replay clearly showed the puck was completely the goal line. The goal would be reviewed, but then the officials fell back on the “goaltender was interfered with, therefore not reviewable” which was received by a huge torrent of boo’s from the home crowd. Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo was not happy as he said to the official, “that was not the call you made on the ice” but either way the team would trail by two instead of one. Pretty lame move to allow for a goal review and then say it was goaltender interference. Mikael Granlund was pushed onto Greiss by Kris Letang but it didn’t matter. The Wild would get lucky with an icing call to the Penguins with about 2 minutes left and Yeo would pull Kuemper for an extra-attacker with his team down by two. It didn’t work as the Penguins patiently waited for the Wild to turn the puck over and Hornqvist would tally the empty netter to seal a 4-1 Pittsburgh victory.
Darcy Kuemper was just ok, making 17 saves in the loss. I thought the Sutter goal was another soft one coming off the rush taken at an angle he needs to be able to stop. Kuemper did have some good saves, but the team needed him to be better in order to beat Pittsburgh. Defensively I thought the Wild had a good game from Ryan Suter and Marco Scandella. Yet I thought it was a really rough game for Nate Prosser and to a lesser extent Mathew Dumba. In my opinion, Dumba doesn’t do nearly enough offensively to justify him staying up with the big club, and his turnovers have a tendency to really boomerang on the Wild as they did tonight. The penalty kill did give up one goal, but they stood tall and even made up for their mistake with a shorthanded goal.
Offensively I thought the Wild gave the Penguins way too much respect in the first two periods of the game. I really almost felt the Wild were in awe of Pittsburgh, allowing the Penguins to convince them to slow their game down and more or less play into their hands. The Wild were at their best tonight when they played fast and then started to funnel pucks to the net and the team really put Pittsburgh on their heels. The power play should’ve ended up with a goal tonight and I’ll give the team credit at trying different player combinations to get it going. One set up on the power play that really is not working is the back door play to Pominville. While Pominville is ready to shoot quickly his inability to hit the net means he often ends up nearly clearing the zone almost every time on his misses. It will be interesting to hear what is wrong with Zach Parise as he was not out at all for the 3rd period for the Wild, and the team certainly could’ve used him down the stretch in this game when this club was rallying back. Give credit to the 4th line to trying to spark things offensively for this team.
Overall this game was disappointing beyond just the score. Tonight, I really felt the Wild reverted to the club from previous years where it tried to just wait for a perfect set up and play a slow, patient game. That isn’t this club’s strength anymore, especially not against a solid defense like the Penguins have. Minnesota is a team built with speed in mind and it has found success being an attacking hockey team that peppers opposing goaltenders for a good 60 minutes. Tonight, the Wild really only applied serious pressure in the 3rd period when it finally started to play its game. The team was either tired, which should be impossible given the fact its been on a nice homestand; or the team was not ready to play mentally. Either way, an opportunity to really force the league to take notice of them was lost tonight. Hopefully the next time the two clubs meet, the Wild actually bring their best effort and play their game.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster was as follows tonight: Mikko Koivu, Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Nino Niederreiter, Erik Haula, Justin Fontaine, Ryan Carter, Kyle Brodziak, Thomas Vanek, Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella, Christian Folin, Nate Prosser and Mathew Dumba. Niklas Backstrom backed up Darcy Kuemper. Stephane Veilleux and Jonathon Blum were the healthy scratches while Matt Cooke, Jared Spurgeon and Keith Ballard are out with injuries.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Thomas Greiss, 2nd Star Nino Niederreiter, 3rd Star Mikko Koivu
~ Attendance was 18,788 at Xcel Energy Center.
Iowa Wild Report:
Recent Score: Iowa 2, Oklahoma City 4
The Iowa Wild came into this weekend on a two-game winning streak. The Wild lost on Saturday night 4-3 to Oklahoma City and so they hoped to get their revenge on a late Sunday afternoon tilt. The Barons would strike first as Andrew Miller beat Johan Gustafsson on the power play to give Oklahoma City a 1-0 lead. The Wild would answer back with a power play goal of their own as Zack Phillips sniped a shot by Richard Bachman to tie the game at 1-1. As good as the Wild felt at that point, it would be short-lived as Oklahoma City would retake the lead just a minute later as Jason Williams found the twine to give the Barons a 2-1 lead going into the 2nd. The Barons would add two more goals in the 2nd from Jordan Oesterle and C.J. Ludwig to give Oklahoma City a commanding 4-1 lead going into the 3rd. The Wild were clearly tired in the 3rd and were only able to provide a limited amount of pushback as Michael Keranen was able to score early in the period cutting the Barons lead to two but that was as close as it got. Gustafsson had 28 saves in the loss.
Wild Prospect Report:
D – Nolan DeJong (Michigan, Big-10) ~ The Wolverines are having another rough season after being swept by Michigan Tech this weekend. DeJong had an assist in Saturday night’s 6-2 loss.
LW – Avery Peterson (Nebraska-Omaha, NCHC) ~ The reigning Mr. Hockey scored his first collegiate goal this weekend as he scored in the Maverick’s 2-1 win over Cornell on Saturday.
D – Hunter Warner (Prince Albert, WHL) ~ The Eden Prairie-native is known more his physical play than for his offensive production, but on Saturday night he chipped in an assist in the Raiders’ 5-2 win over the Saskatoon Blades.
C – Reid Duke (Brandon, WHL) ~ Duke continues to heat up for Brandon as he tallied a goal in the Wheat Kings 4-0 victory over Medicine Hat on Saturday night. The Calgary-native has 4 goals, 12 points and 14 PIM’s in 13 games this season.
C – Pavel Jenys (Sudbury, OHL) ~ The Brno, Czech Republic-native continues to pad his stats, adding a goal in the Wolves’ 7-2 rout of Niagara on Saturday. Jenys has 4 goals, 12 points and 11 PIM’s through 15 games.
D – Carson Soucy (Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC) ~ The big-bodied defenseman continues to provide big minutes for the Bulldogs and has shown a little more offense to his game that few realized exists as he chipped in an assist in UMD’s 4-3 win over Miami (OH). Soucy has 2 goals, 6 points and 8 PIM’s in 8 games.
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