Minnesota Wild (32-11-5) 69pts 1st in the Central
3.29 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
2.23 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in the NHL)
21.5% Power Play (10th in the NHL)
84.2% Penalty Kill (5th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 12G 30A = 42pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 16G 25A = 41pts
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 13G 25A = 38pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter~ 15G 21A = 36pts
5. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 12G 20A = 35pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 58 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 39 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 26 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (27-8-3) 1.88GAA .936%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (5-3-2) 3.28GAA .901%SP
Vs.
Edmonton Oilers (28-15-8) 64pts 2nd in the Pacific
2.92 Goals For Per Game (8th in the NHL)
2.51 Goals Against Per Game (7th in the NHL)
21% Power Play (11th in the NHL)
82.1% Penalty Kill (15th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Connor McDavid ~ 17G 42A = 59pts
2. #29 Leon Draisaitl ~ 19G 27A = 46pts
3. #14 Jordan Eberle ~ 11G 21A = 32pts
4. #27 Milan Lucic ~ 11G 18A = 29pts
5. #19 Patrick Maroon ~ 18G 8A = 26pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #44 Zack Kassian ~ 72 PIM’s
2. #19 Patrick Maroon ~ 61 PIM’s
3. #62 Eric Gryba ~ 38 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #33 Cam Talbot (26-12-7) 2.33GAA .922%SP 4SO
2. #1 Laurent Broissoit (1-0-0) 3.00GAA .927%SP
Lines:
Edmonton Oilers
Maroon~McDavid~Draisaitl
Pouliot~Nugent-Hopkins~Eberle
Lucic~Caggiula~Slepyshev
Hendricks~Letestu~Kassian
Klefbom~Larsson
Sekera~Russell
Davidson~Benning
Talbot
Broissoit
Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter~Staal~Coyle
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Parise~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Schroeder
Suter~Spurgeon
Scandella~Dumba
Reilly~Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
While the NHL season officially crossed the halfway point of the season a few games back, the All-Star Break seems to be more of the true halfway point. Yet the All-Star Break serves as a reminder to all, that this is where the true challenge starts. For the teams that are definitely in the playoff hunt, it’s the time to fight for their spot in the standings, especially that number one spot in their division if not conference. And for the teams that are in Wild Card or just on the outside by a point or two, to make their push to remain in playoff contention or fight their way in to a playoff spot. For fans though, the All-Star Break is more of an annoyance. Well at least for me. This time of the season reminds me of a mid-season finale of your favorite television show. You’ll get 7 or 8 episodes, and things start to get really good, and then they take a two month pause before you get the rest of the episodes for the season. I find that model to be extremely annoying. When I was a kid, a television season was x-number of consecutive episodes with no break in the middle of the season. Just give me the season, without the break please.
For the Minnesota Wild, fans have reason to be concerned. In seasons past, a break like the All-Star Break can really mess with the team’s chemistry. Four days between games was enough time to get them “off” their game and get them out of sync. However, that seems to be less of a problem this season. Somehow, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau has gotten into their heads and has prevented the meltdowns after extended breaks. We now get to see if his ability to keep this team focused will continue to hold true. The difficulty however with the All-Star Break is that all official team activities don’t happen during the days off surrounding the All-Star Game weekend. Players and coaches that are not involved with the All-Star Game can’t hold official team practices. So it’s usually up to team captains to hold unofficial practices if any hockey is to happen for the remaining players. I know I hadn’t heard any rumblings of Mikko Koivu calling for a captain’s practice. For the players not involved in the festivities, it’s a chance to rest and recharge as well as spend some precious and deserved time with their families. My only hope is that the players did at the very least get some skating in.
What makes this break even more challenging for Minnesota, is that they’re now entering the second half of the season with a major target on their backs. No, those aren’t numbers you see on the backs of the Wild’s jerseys. Those are now bullseye targets. Well, at least if you’re the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, and Saint Louis Blues (at least with in the Central Division). With Minnesota in possession of the top spot in both the Central Division and Western Conference (two events they have rarely possessed in their history), other teams will be coming for them. And I’m sure the Columbus Blue Jackets are feeling some similar feelings, although they’re in second place in both the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference. As expansion brethren, when you’re sitting in those top spots, there’s a bit of a feeling (by other teams) that for some reason they don’t deserve to be there. Meaning that they have yet to pay their full dues. Minnesota found success early in their history, with the Cinderella-story season of 2002-03 where they made it to the Western Conference Finals in their third season. For Columbus, it’s taken them longer to find the playoffs, and they’ve certainly had more downs than ups. They have gone through a lot more coaches, finally finding a better match, shockingly in John Tortorella. Of course the Wild have had a bit of a coaching mismatch themselves since the departure of Jacques Lemaire, but sanity has returned after the topsy-turvy reigns of Todd Richards and Mike Yeo.
Tonight’s opponent should come out hard. The Edmonton Oilers are sitting in second place in the Pacific Division, and are only in second place because they’ve played one more game than the San Jose Sharks. While the “great” hockey minds on the radio and at The Hockey News usually blather on and on about teams in the Eastern Conference, it’s almost as if they’ve forgotten to talk about Edmonton. This is a team that is normally sitting at the bottom of their division, usually in position to win the best overall draft pick. For some reason, the hockey minds would rather talk about Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who by the way are in third place in the Metropolitan behind Washington and Columbus, where the better story is in Edmonton. The Oilers are finally having the kind of season they should have had 2-3 years ago with how they’ve accumulated prime draft picks. However, this is a new trend for the Oilers. Whether or not they can actually maintain this success, that is the story. And perhaps they too have finally found their match, in head coach Todd McLellan, former coach of San Jose. The Wild have had only one outing with the Oilers this season, and it took the shootout for Minnesota to come out with the 3-2 win.
The “cliffhanger” the Wild left their fans with last week with the 5-1 win against Saint Louis has definitely created some buzz for their fans and around the league. Now the second half of the season begins. And whether the excitement can continue, that is what we have yet to see.
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