Minnesota Wild (19-19-5) 43pts 7th in the Central
2.74 Goals For (16th)
2.95 Goals Against (24th)
15.0% Power Play (24th)
84.6% Penalty Kill (8th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 9G 27A = 36pts
2. #11 Zach Parise ~ 15G 17A = 32pts
3. #26 Thomas Vanek ~ 8G 19A = 27pts
4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 6G 17A = 23pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 15G 5A = 20pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 48 PIM’s
2. #11 Zach Parise ~ 27 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 26 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (13-12-1) 2.68GAA .902%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (5-7-3) 3.04GAA .887%SP
3. #40 Devan Dubnyk (10-4-2) 2.72GAA .916%SP 2SO
Vs.
Arizona Coyotes (16-23-4) 36pts 6th in the Pacific
2.26 Goals For (26th)
3.28 Goals Against (28th)
21.3% Power Play (7th)
74.8% Penalty Kill (29th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #89 Mikkel Boedker ~ 14G 14A = 28pts
2. #50 Antoine Vermette ~ 10G 18A = 28pts
3. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 4G 23A = 27pts
4. #19 Shane Doan ~ 10G 13A = 23pts
5. #11 Martin Hanzal ~ 7G 15A = 22pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #24 Kyle Chipchura ~ 51 PIM’s
2. #44 B.J. Crombeen ~ 48 PIM’s
3. #19 Shane Doan ~ 35 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #41 Mike Smith (7-17-2) 3.52GAA .885%SP
Hockey Day Minnesota Schedule
9:00 a.m. Hockey Day Minnesota begins
10:00 a.m. Luverne vs. St. Paul Johnson
1:30 p.m. Hill Murray vs. St. Thomas Academy
5:00 p.m. University of Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
8:00 p.m. Minnesota Wild vs. Arizona Coyotes Xcel Energy Center
11:00 p.m. *Cretin-Derham Hall vs. Duluth Northern Stars Holman
Happy Hockey Day Minnesota my dear readers! I’m sitting here with a wonderful cup of coffee and a croissant and watching the Luverne vs St. Paul Johnson game. For a person living in Wisconsin, I’m very fortunate that I live where Fox Sports North is the “local” Fox Sports channel. I’m afraid if I lived further east in Wisconsin, I’d be stuck with Fox Sports Wisconsin and would only be able to watch tonight’s Wild game. However, if you were a Minnesota Twins or Timberwolves fan, you would be blacked out for those games, even where we live. I wonder if people who live in Hudson or Eau Claire are blacked out with those teams as well on FSN. Of course, with those two franchises, it’s not as if you’re really missing anything. Yet I’m sure there are those who could say that the Minnesota Wild aren’t exactly tearing it up either, and you know what, they’re correct. Although, perhaps we’ve turned the proverbial corner.
Thursday night in Buffalo was a much needed win. Yes, it was Buffalo, the team is only two points from the bottom of the standings. However, it was most likely a make or break game. If Minnesota had lost in Buffalo, I think would we would have seen some sort of implosion or explosion from the team. The team had a long players only meeting after the Penguins game in which the Wild lost 7-2. What is ironic about the win, is that it was the exact same game, against the exact same team, that Minnesota dug themselves out of their hole last season that essentially propelled the Wild into the playoffs. I’m not ready to make many more parallels than what I already have, because there are a lot of unknowns still at play. It would be great if the parallels came true, but let’s remain cautiously optimistic.
First off, we had much better goaltending last season. Of course it might not have been better, but I think the skaters were more responsible in front of their goaltenders which made them look better than they really are. I think now, when team defense has been lacking, we’re really seeing what we have in goal. Goaltenders have always been a team’s last line of defense. Sadly this season (or at least during this horrific skid), we have not seen that list line of defense. There have been some games, where we might as well have just played with an empty net all night. Minnesota was fortunate that Devyn Dubnyk had the excellent outing that he did. In fact, he is the first Wild goaltender in team history that has posted a shut-out in his debut. I’ll take that kind of info for the trivia books, but he needs to build on that win against Buffalo if the team hopes to turn things around.
Also, many fans are almost thankful that the league imposed a 2-game suspension on Ryan Suter for his elbow on Pittsburgh’s Steve Downie. If there was ever a player on this team that needed a break, it is Suter. And guess what, the blueline did not fall apart with his absence. Even better, the power play looked better without him. I will admit, I was a bit worried when it was announced that Matt Dumba would make his return to the Wild in Buffalo. I am not a big fan of Dumba’s game. Clearly his time in Iowa has been well spent. He still needs a bit more time to develop, but I’m just glad to see that he’s taken the time to work on his game. It’s also reassuring to know that we can count on him when he is called up. If you needed more good when it comes to the blue line, just know this. It has been announced that Marco Scandella will make his return tonight after his absence due to a puck to the head. We have missed having Scandella on the ice. When he went down, that meant Suter had to pick up even more minutes. Hopefully with Scandella’s return along with his fellow defensemen can prove to head coach Mike Yeo that Suter doesn’t need to play 30+ minutes a game when Suter comes back from his suspension.
Tonight’s game could be another trap. With the Coyotes near the bottom of the standings (only Carlolina, Buffalo, and Edmonton behind them), you can’t afford to take a shift off. The Coyotes have players tend to have great games against Minnesota. I worry that the Wild may have used up all of their offense in Buffalo. We want our team to play well, to use Thursday’s result as momentum, and to honor today’s celebration of hockey at all levels. There are just so many ways that we can be disappointed today. I just hope none of them come to fruition.
I think I need another cup of coffee, as it’s going to be a long day. However a long day with nothing but hockey, is a day well spent.
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