Minnesota Wild (11-8-0) 22pts 5th in the Central
2.79 Goals For (11th)
2.26 Goals Against (6th)
9.7% Power Play (28th)
86.9% Penalty Kill (5th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 7G 6A = 13pts
2. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 9G 3A = 12pts
3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 4G 8A = 12pts
4. #26 Thomas Vanek ~ 1G 10A = 11pts
5. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 2G 8A = 10pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #6 Marco Scandella ~ 30 PIM’s
2. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 22 PIM’s
3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 17 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (9-6-0) 2.03GAA .919%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (2-2-0) 2.55GAA .890%SP
Vs.
Florida Panthers (7-5-6) 20pts 7th in the Atlantic
2.17 Goals For (28th)
2.44 Goals Against (10th)
16.1% Power Play (22nd)
77.8% Penalty Kill (23rd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #36 Jussi Jokinen ~ 2G 10A = 12pts
2. #27 Nick Bjugstad ~ 7G 4A = 11pts
3. #5 Aaron Ekblad ~ 2G 9A = 11pts
4. #24 Brad Boyes ~ 4G 5A = 9pts
5. #12 Jimmy Hayes ~ 4G 5A = 9pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #19 Scottie Upshall ~ 18 PIM’s
2. #44 Erik Gudbranson ~ 17 PIM’s
3. #36 Jussi Jokinen ~ 16 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #1 Roberto Luongo (6-4-5) 2.36GAA .926%SP 1S0
2. #35 Al Montoya (1-1-1) 2.24GAA .909%SP
Well, tonight the Wild head into the Alphabet Soup Arena. I know you’re now saying, “but Theresa, there is no such place as the Alphabet Soup Arena…” Do you remember Saturday’s rant about corporate sponsorship and naming rights for arenas? Well this is part two of that rant. You see, the home of the Florida Panthers was previously known as CTS Bank Atlantic Center or something like that. Now they’re the BB&T Center. And yes, I had to look up the new name, as my partner in crime prepped this preview by typing up the stats. He tends to work from memory (which is like a steel trap) and put in the previous name. So let this be a warning to you. If you are a professional sports team, and you give the naming rights of your arena to a company who have a name that is nothing more than a bunch of random letters, you are going to be called the Alphabet Soup Arena by me from here on out, in jest of course. I’m just glad that the home of the Minnesota Wild has a more interesting name, so interesting that the Pittsburgh Penguins decided that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I suppose if Xcel Energy ever decides to end its sponsorship, I hope the Wild go with another classic Minnesota company for the name, such as Polaris. Just think, the scientific name of the North Star would be a great tribute to the former team.
Statistics are sometimes a funny beast. When you don’t watch a team on a regular basis, they certainly provide a window into what is and might be going on with a team. Florida is one of those teams I have to sometimes remind myself that even exists. Of course that is two-fold. First off, it’s a team that Minnesota doesn’t play on a regular basis. That goes even deeper, as I think we’re all still effected by the NHL experiment when there were seasons we never even played an entire division. And the other part of forgetting that the Panthers exist, is my own prejudice against locations that cannot have natural outdoor ice to play on. But that’s another rant for another day. So, back to statistics. Looking at the player statistics, both teams are pretty even. Trust me, that’s a nice change after the disparity between Minnesota and Steven Stamkos. While the top five scorers is pretty even for both Minnesota and Florida, it requires me to dig a little further since that is about where the similarities stop. For Florida, just about all of their scoring is coming from their top five. For Minnesota, they are certainly getting more help from those guys not in the top five. However, on some nights it feels like all of the Wild’s offense is coming from those guys not listed in the above stats. For a team to truly go far in the regular season and the playoffs, you need all players contributing. Minnesota definitely has a better balance than Florida, but there’s still some work to be done. And as one would expect from a team from Minnesota (and no, I’m not talking about the neutral zone trap), the Wild clearly have a better team defense. If you can’t stop the puck, it’s definitely going to make it harder to win. And that appears to be the big issue in Florida this season.
Minnesota came so close to a win in Tampa Bay on Saturday night. But as the old saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The Wild need to learn from their mistakes (and there were several) and try to avoid them tonight. The Wild were on a four-game winning streak prior to the loss to the Lightning. Playing teams such as the Panthers, that on paper you should beat, are a great way to get back on a winning streak. With December just around the corner, it is time for Minnesota to pick up speed, work on their mistakes, and get back in the win column. Traditionally, there are three months which often seem to make a difference in the final standings. They tend to be October (you need a strong start), December (you start to see the candidates truly emerge), and March (the vicious month of jockeying for position). December can feel both like and long and short month for teams. With games not played on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, you automatically lose game days. So by losing two calendar days, the schedule tends to get cramped. Thankfully, the Wild only have one back-to-back in December.
So hopefully they push strong to end November and that momentum can carry them into December and make for a strong end of 2014. But in the meantime, you have to start somewhere, and a game against the Florida Panthers is a good place to start.
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