Its funny how statistics can both be informative and seemingly misleading at the same time. When I was in the process of finishing my Master’s thesis paper, we were told how statistics and studies can be manipulated to reach just about any conclusion the researcher wants it to. It doesn’t mean valuable things can be learned from those studies, but it does force you to consider the source and possible bias. Yet consider the Minnesota Wild and the Montreal Canadiens. Minnesota has (knock on wood) an above average offense, an excellent defense (knock on wood), a rancid power play, a terrific penalty kill (knock on wood) but sits in 9th in the Western Conference. Compare that to Montreal, who has a below average offense, a slightly above average defense, a below average power play yet they’re in 4th place in the Eastern Conference. So statistics obviously do not tell the whole story.
I don’t think the Canadiens are a tremendously solid team. I think the Wild are better than their record implies and we’ve yet to see them at their best. So what shall we see Wednesday night? The team that plays it best and dominates the Canadiens at home or the one in which no lead is safe? The Wild have the potential within them to solve their own problems so what will it be Wednesday night?
1st Period Thoughts: The Wild got off to a fast start, finding the back of the net just 19 seconds in as Jason Zucker took a chance on a sharp angle shot that went off the shoulder of Carey Price and in. 1-0 Wild, just from a player taking the initiative to try to shoot the puck. Throughout the first 5 minutes of the game the Wild were flying all over the ice while Montreal looked static and confused as Minnesota outworked the Canadiens in just about every phase of the game. The top line of Mikael Granlund, Zach Parise and Jason Pominville worked the puck deep and got their cycling game going and funneling shots on goal as they went that kept Price busy. The Canadiens would counter attack as Dale Weise muscled his way into the Minnesota end where he got off a quick shot that was fought off by Darcy Kuemper and the puck was tapped back into the high slot where a wide open Andrei Markov stepped into a slap shot that he blasted wide of the mark. The Wild would take the first penalty of the game as Kyle Brodziak was tagged with a holding penalty for getting his arm around Jiri Sekac. The Montreal power play was short-lived as Sekac was given an interference penalty as he stepped in front of Jared Spurgeon who was trying to track down a loose puck in the offensive zone. There wasn’t much offense being created 4-on-4, and as the penalties expired the Wild tried to go on the attack as Charlie Coyle motored into the Montreal end, and he’d lift a shot that would hit the back of the goal and he’d track the puck down swinging it back out to the point where Nate Prosser stepped into a slap shot that was gloved by Price. After this whistle their would be a long review of Coyle’s shot which hit the back of the goal. Odd situation. The review seemed to kill the mood of the crowd a bit. The crowd would get a little bit more excited as the Pominville, Granlund, Parise line would connect for a terrific chance as Pominville chipped a puck off the wall back to Granlund who fed it over to Parise making his way towards the slot and he rifled a shot high that just trickled wide after sneaking through Price. The Wild were hustling well, backchecking to prevent potential scoring chances for the Canadiens before they could develop. Minnesota top line again was able to create a prime scoring chance as Parise set up Pominville in the slot but the puck would bounce over his stick. The Canadiens had a quality chance late in the period as a foolish diagonal pass by Keith Ballard from deep in his zone was intercepted by Markov and turned into a shooting opportunity for Lars Eller that Kuemper was forced to cover up. In the closing seconds, there was a scary moment as a race for the puck between Spurgeon and Max Pacioretty which had the Habs’ power forward careening into the boards awkwardly even though the whistle had blown for icing. It was a scary finish to what was a reasonable first period for the Wild who out shot the Canadiens 15-6. I thought it was an ok period but its obvious there is some kind of effort to get Pominville a goal and I think that’s foolish considering how cold he’s been. He’s been whiffing on pucks far more than he’s connecting and passing up scoring chances is not a good thing for the Wild no matter how much they may be out shooting their opponent. Prosser and Ballard need to be better; far too many turnovers out there. Less use of the boards and glass and more short passes would be recommended.
2nd Period Thoughts: The top line would again start trouble as Granlund set up Parise near the Canadiens’ goal that missed just wide. A little later it was Mikko Koivu setting up Coyle for a quick shot that he powered wide of the mark. The game would turn into a bit of a chess match as the Canadiens neutral-zone trap started to create turnovers that put the Wild on their heels. Poor decisions with the puck led to foolish turnovers which kept Minnesota scrambling about its own zone. The Canadiens were not creating great scoring chances with these turnovers but more pucks started being funneled on the Wild’s goal. Minnesota would earn its first power play of the game as Parise drew a roughing minor on Alexi Emelin as he gave a jab to the face of the Wild’s leading scorer. On the power play, the Wild used its veterans first and as predictable as the personnel choice was, it was predictably static and ineffective as well. The lack of player and puck movement made it easy for the Habs’ penalty kill to disrupt it. The youngsters were not much better as their unselfishness squandered potential shooting opportunities. The power play ended in failure but the Wild would strike moments later as Christian Folin unleashed a wrist shot that found its way by Price. The goal would be reviewed to see if the goal was played with a high stick by Pominville. After a lengthy review it was ruled a good goal, the first goal in nearly a month for Pominville. Minnesota would draw another power play as Bryan Allen tripped up Thomas Vanek. The Wild’s power play would start by trying to work a backdoor play to Pominville but Markov would intercept and send the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty giving Minnesota a long 5-on-3. The strategy on the 2-man advantage was obvious, ignore all other options and set up Pominville at all costs. This strategy resulted in a few fanned shots and easy turnovers for the Habs’ penalty killers. The Wild failed to register a single shot on the power play, and the home fans boo’d their team and rightfully so. Minnesota would dodge a Montreal scoring chance in the closing seconds of the period as Weise’s hot missed just wide of Kuemper. There was a small level of anxiousness from the home crowd as they knew a 2-goal lead is the worst kind to have. Minnesota again outshot the Canadiens, 14-3 but many of them were shots from the perimeter. This team better finish strong, because the Habs are still in decent shape for a comeback.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Canadiens started the 3rd period with great energy and purpose as they peppered Kuemper with a number of good shots in the opening minute. The Wild seemed tired or at least mentally fatigued as they watched the Canadiens operate with impunity in their own end. Weak clearing attempts out of their own zone only allowed Montreal to keep Minnesota more or less bottled up in its own end. The Wild’s lack of want to create any pressure in the Canadiens’ zone allowed Montreal to simply press the attack without consequence. The Wild would find itself scrambling about its own end, as the Habs set up P.K. Subban time and again for blasts from the point. Minnesota blocked a few shots but the Wild continually failed to clear the zone and it forced Kuemper to bail them out with a glove save. There was a little feistiness on the ice as Brendan Gallagher would jam away at Kuemper after a blown whistle and this would lead to an even uglier play moments later. Eric Tangradi would hit Folin from behind, smashing his face into the boards, cutting the big Swedish-born rookie with blood on his visor. Tangradi was given 5 minutes for boarding and a game misconduct. On the power play, the veterans again did their best just to kill time as they made the same poor decisions with the puck that had the team spending the first 2 minutes just trying to enter the Montreal zone. The crowd boo’ed the team’s poor execution. The boo’s continued to rise as the team kept making foolish mistakes, thwarting their own attempts to enter the Montreal zone by going offsides. Even once they finally gained entry into the zone, poor passes, fanned shots plagued the power-less play as the Wild continued to squander a golden opportunity to put the game away. The ineffectiveness of the Wild power play only made Montreal’s penalty killers more bold as they pressured the puck carrier forcing more turnovers and the power play ended with boo’s still raining down towards the team that had not registered a single shot on goal with a 5-minute power play. Pathetic. As the penalty expired, the Canadiens were again providing plenty of pressure in the Wild’s zone, and even more defensively sound players were coughing up the puck like Spurgeon. Minnesota finally would provide a token level of a counter attack as a long pass gave Jason Zucker a partial breakaway and the speedy former Denver Pioneer raced in and nearly beat Price on a backhander that he slid 5-hole that the Habs’ goal was just able to stop by dragging the leg. The Wild started to use some decent puck pressure to draw some turnovers and then tried to beat the Habs in transition. The Canadiens would pull Price with about 2 minutes for an extra attacker, but the Wild did enough to just harass shooters than trying to bury an empty netter. The Canadiens would score with about a minute left as the Wild just stood around and watched as Subban passed the puck off the pads before Alex Galchenyuk buried it. 2-1 Wild with a minute left. The Wild were able to get into shooting lanes and clear the zone to salt the game away and slink away with a 2-1 victory.
Kuemper was reasonable, stopping 18 shots in the victory even though he wasn’t really tested until the 3rd period. At times I thought Kuemper was still fighting the puck a bit as his rebound control was a but questionable. Defensively, I thought the Wild blueline really missed having Suter around. The backchecking masked what I felt was some poor decision-making with the puck tonight. Way too many lazy clearing attempts through the middle of the ice. The penalty kill finished perfect, but they were not tested much either.
Offensively the Wild’s PR department was in full force trying to make it sound like the Wild’s 35 shots on goal meant they played well. I think the Wild a lot of those shots were not of great quality and taken from the perimeter. The team had a few spurts of good forechecking pressure but still too many passes from their big guns. The Wild scored on two flukey goals and in this instance it was enough to get it done. However the power play was a complete disaster. I am not even sure what makes me more upset, the inane attempt to try to force plays to Jason Pominville or their lethargic performance on the 5-on-3. Minnesota had absolutely nothing on a 5-minute major and a lot of that came down to way too unselfish play and poor execution. The fans boo’d and they deserved it, the incredible ineffectiveness of the power play gave Montreal enough of a boost to almost win the game.
Mediocre performances like this are infuriating. This team is capable of so much better, and it did the bare minimum to win. The team’s stubbornness to stick with the same group of vets on the power play make me question whether they really want to win. The 2 points are fortunate, but I’m not filled with confidence about a game against the Ducks. Beggars can’t be choosers, but I’d appreciate more honesty and hear more guys admit it was more luck than skill that won this evening.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster was as follows: Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek, Jason Zucker, Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, Justin Fontaine, Kyle Brodziak, Ryan Carter, Erik Haula, Christian Folin, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Keith Ballard and Nate Prosser. Niklas Backstrom backed up Darcy Kuemper. Stu Bickel and Ryan Suter were the scratches tonight.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Jason Zucker, 2nd Star Darcy Kuemper, 3rd Star Marco Scandella
~ Attendance was 19,034 at Xcel Energy Center.
~ The State of Hockey News would like to offer our thoughts to the family of the great Jean Beliveau who passed away at the age of 83 on Tuesday night. Beliveau, the great Montreal Hall of Famer was the personification of class, who changed the way people thought of taller players and was a great ambassador for the game. As Minnesota’s Chief Amateur Scout and Hall of Fame defenseman Guy Lapointe said upon word of his passing, “It’s like the city of Montreal lost their dad today.” He will be sorely missed.
Iowa Wild Report:
Recent Score: Iowa 4, San Antonio 5 SO
Sunday late afternoon would be the Iowa debut of Josh Harding and Mathew Dumba for the 2014-15 season. It would be a crazy game. Iowa would strike first as Jordan Schroeder tapped home a Tyler Graovac feed to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. That lead would hold through the end of the 1st period as Josh Harding fought off a late surge by the Rampage who outshot the Wild 17-10. The Rampage would tie the game early in the 2nd on a goal by Nick Shore. The Rampage would take the lead on the power play a few minutes later as Mark Mancari rifled a shot by Harding. The Wild would tie the game up a little over a minute later as Dumba blasted a shot from the point that beat Michael Houser cleanly to make it 2-2. Dumba shattered his stick in the process of scoring his first AHL goal. The Rampage would take back the lead as Bobby Butler lifted a shot over the shoulder on Harding. The Wild would again strike back quickly with an answer as Tyler Graovac hammered a shot by Houser to knot the game at 3 going into the 3rd period. The Wild would score early in the 3rd as former North Dakota Fighting Sioux star Jason Gregoire beat Houser on a shot taken off the rush to make 4-3 Iowa. Unfortunately the Wild would not hold the lead as Ryan Martindale scored a little over 2 minutes later. In overtime, both clubs traded prime scoring chances but neither team was able to gain a critical edge. The Wild had a great chance as Mathew Dumba earned a penalty shot, but his snap shot would be blocked aside by Houser sending the game to a shootout. In the shootout the Wild took a 1-0 lead as Zack Phillips scored. Unfortunately Harding would let in two shootout goals, which put the game into the hands of Michael Keranen to keep their hopes alive. Keranen’s backhand move was blocked away by Houser and the Rampage would win 5-4. Harding had 50 saves in the loss.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjrvejv-Z-I]Wild Prospect Report:
C – Pavel Jenys (Sudbury, OHL) ~ It doesn’t happen often in Sudbury but they won’t be too choosy as Jenys chipped in a goal and an assist in the Wolves’ rare 2-1 win over Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday. Jenys has 6 goals, 21 points, 22 PIM’s and -9 in 26 games this season.
RW – Chase Lang (Calgary, WHL) ~ The Calgary Hitmen certainly don’t shy away from high scoring games after blitzing the Red Deer Rebels 9-5 on Tuesday night. The Nainamo, British Columbia-native had a goal and two helpers in the victory. Lang has 12 goals, 23 points, 23 PIM’s and is a +7 in 24 games.
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