Minnesota Wild (16-8-5) 37pts 4th in the Central
2.31 Goals For (23rd)
2.17 Goals Against (6th)
20.2% Power Play (8th)
79% Penalty Kill (23rd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 11G 12A = 23pts
2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 6G 17A = 23pts
3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 14G 5A = 19pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 5G 10A = 15pts
5. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 15A = 15pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 37 PIM's
2. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 29 PIM's
3. #39 Nate Prosser ~ 19 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #37 Josh Harding (14-4-3) 1.45GAA .939%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (2-3-2) 2.77GAA .896%SP
Vs.
Chicago Blackhawks (20-4-4) 44pts 1st in the Central
3.50 Goals For (1st)
2.64 Goals Against (18th)
20% Power Play (10th)
74.7% Penalty Kill (29th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 16G 14A = 30pts
2. #19 Jonathan Toews ~ 12G 13A = 25pts
3. #2 Duncan Keith ~ 1G 23A = 24pts
4. #10 Patrick Sharp ~ 10G 13A = 23pts
5. #81 Marian Hossa ~ 11G 9A = 20pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #52 Brandon Bolig ~ 40 PIM's
2. #17 Sheldon Brookbank ~ 26 PIM's
3. #65 Andrew Shaw ~ 18 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #50 Corey Crawford (17-4-3) 2.36GAA .913%SP
2. #31 Antti Raanta (2-0-0) 2.16GAA .917%SP
3. #39 Nikolai Khabibulin (1-0-1) 5.00GAA .811%SP
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How many times as children were we all told that challenges and having to work hard even though we might not always succeed build our character? And with those challenges also comes failure and losses. No one likes to fail or lose, but it's an inevitable part of life. Sure, it doesn't feel good and is usually a disappointment. The positive part of losing and failing from time to time, is that smart people will learn from the mistakes that led them to that failure. Yet at the same time, I think I'm part of the last generation that was told that you can't always win or succeed. If you've talked to a teacher lately, they'll tell you the utter grief they get from parents if little Johnny doesn't get an 'A' when at best they've done 'C' work. If you want an 'A' you have to earn that grade. The teacher doesn't give you the grade, you ultimately give yourself that grade. It's gotten to the point where people think if you merely participate or show up, you're going to win. Same thing goes with high school coaches. I live in small town where parents are so delusional that they think their kids are going to play Division-I sports at college, when ultimately they'll be fortunate to play Division-III.
Tonight, the Minnesota Wild face a big challenge. I've said before that Minnesota really hasn't faced much of a challenge this season because it feels like all we've dealt with this season is a weaker Eastern Conference. We've faced one major challenge so far in that abysmal 3-0 shutout at the hands of the St. Louis Blues. The 2 consecutive lossed to Colorado as well as the loss to Phoenix weren't much better. I wish I could say we learned something from those losses, but I'm not sure that's the case. On Monday night, we "played down" to the level of the Flyers, and won by the skin of our teeth. Sure, it was a shutout, but it's one of those games that sadly, I don't think we deserved to win. If you can't even come out big with lots of energy against a team like Philadelphia, how can one expect the Wild to come out big against the best team in the league?
One of the biggest challenges the Wild have (and have had for most of their existence) is the ability to score. How many times have we seen Wild players pass the puck when they really should have taken the shot on goal? A shot on goal can, and often does, generate additional shots on goal due to the goaltender unable to control the puck. During the holidays we try to be less selfish, however sometimes it's good to be selfish, and taking shots on goal is one those times where it's acceptable. Yet there's a double edged sword when it comes to taking shots on goal. The Wild seem to have another issue when it comes to taking shots on goal. We also seem to have the problem that when they do choose to shoot, the player is so far off target. How many times do we hear our broadcasters say the words "wide of the net?" We know Chicago can score, almost at will, but Minnesota needs to look at what they do and try and do it themselves for once.
Another challenge for tonight, will be preventing Chicago from scoring in the first place. Minnesota has since their inception been known as a team that's hard to score on. This season has been a bit of a disappointment in that category. Now overall, their goals against average is one that many teams in the league would covet. The problem though, is that it seems this season that Minnesota has been going to the penalty box on a more regular basis. In years past, I never worried about the penalty kill, because while it's usually been difficult to score against the Wild even strength it's been even harder for the opponent to score while the Wild are on the penalty kill. This season's horrible penalty kill numbers are hard to swallow, and I know I cringe when a Wild player heads off to the box. Now while Chicago's power play numbers aren't anything to write home about, it's best to not even give them that opportunity.
I can only hope that the Wild have learned from their recent mistakes, and can find a way to generate that learning process into a win tonight. You can be sure that Chicago is heading into Xcel Energy Center knowing they're the top team in the league. Minnesota needs a little bit of that bravado for themselves. If they could find some bit of confidence, it just might help the Wild be competitve tonight. I'm not looking for a win (that's not to say I'm not hoping for one), I just want them to look like they're trying their absolute best and that they give the Blackhawks a run for their money. If they don't, I'm afraid this is what we'll see the rest of the season. Hopefully the Wild realize there's no special award for simply participating in the season.
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