Minnesota Wild (0-0-2) 2pts 6th in Central
2.50 Goals For (18th)
3.00 Goals Against (19th)
33.3% Power Play (4th)
66.7% Penalty Kill (26th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 2G 0A = 2pts
2. #25 Jonas Brodin ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
3. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 0G 2A = 2pts
4. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 1G 0A = 1pt
5. #24 Matt Cooke ~ 1G 0A = 1pt
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 12 PIM's
2. #2 Keith Ballard ~ 5 PIM's
3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 2 PIM's
Top Goaltender:
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (0-0-2) 2.77GAA .875%SP
Vs.
Nashville Predators (0-2-0) 0pts 7th in Central
1.50 Goals For (28th)
3.50 Goals Against (25th)
0.0% Power Play (30th)
77.8% Penalty Kill (22nd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Mike Fisher ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
2. #28 Paul Gaustad ~ 1G 0A = 1pt
3. #11 David Legwand ~ 1G 0A = 1pt
4. #15 Craig Smith ~ 0G 1A = 1pt
5. #13 Nick Spaling ~ 0G 1A = 1pt
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #24 Eric Nystrom ~ 14 PIM's
2. #6 Shea Weber ~ 6 PIM's
3. #64 Victor Bartley ~ 6 PIM's
Top Goaltender(s):
1. #35 Pekka Rinne (0-2-0) 4.35GAA .878%SP
2. #30 Carter Hutton (0-0-0) 1.20GAA .955%SP
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You know things could be bad when I as a fan am feeling at best ambivelent about tonight's game. The sad thing is, had the first two games gone better for the Wild, meaning they didn't let wins slip through their fingers, I might be feeling better about tonight. However the truth of the matter is that Minnesota is in their current position because they put themselves there. Both Minnesota and Nashville are winless. The scary part is should Nashville win, Minnesota will take over the bottom spot from the Predators. This could be a long season.
Last evening I was thinking about the new division we find ourselves in. While it's great for travel and fans, it's not going to be good for wins for Minnesota. Looking at the other teams, there are definitely four team that in recent years have not been kind to Minnesota. Nashville has handed some embarassing losses to the Wild. Dallas is Dallas, and wins are near impossible to come by, especially in Dallas. Chicago and St. Louis are opponents that require Minnesota to buckle down to just be competitive, Truly, I think it's going to be an ugly season.
The other thing as fans we have to keep in mind is our coaching situation. All one has to do is look at Philadelphia. Three games in, and they already fired their head coach, Peter Laviolette. Minnesota's head coach, Mike Yeo is going to have to start wondering if he's going to be employed the entire season. And while head coaches are often the first head to roll when it comes to hockey operations, the person who should be worrying even more these days is Wild General Manager, Chuck Fletcher. If Yeo is fired during the course of the season, people will need to start looking at management. Wild owner Craig Leipold has stated he wants to build a winner, and faulty coaching and management is not the way to get their.
And while coaching and management have to be questioned, one still needs to look at our players. They are a talented group of individuals, and we should be seeing better results. However, possibly that is the problem. We have a team of individuals and not a true team. They have yet to find their identity, They have yet to find something to rally behind. Until they figure that out for themselves, I'm afraid we'll have to continue to watch them flounder. As a fan and a blogger, I hope they find themselves soon.
Until then, it's a waiting game. And I don't know about you, but I hate waiting.
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