Minnesota Wild (20-14-5) 45pts 4th in the Central
2.13 Goals For (29th)
2.36 Goals Against (8th)
19.7% Power Play (10th)
78% Penalty Kill (27th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 15G 12A = 27pts
2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 7G 20A = 27pts
3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 17G 9A = 26pts
4. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 22A = 22pts
5. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 6G 11A = 17pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 55 PIM's
2. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 35 PIM's
3. #2 Keith Ballard ~ 29 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #37 Josh Harding (18-5-3) 1.51GAA .939%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (2-8-2) 3.18GAA .896%SP
Vs.
Winnipeg Jets (16-18-5) 37pts 6th in the Central
2.51 Goals For (19th)
2.87 Goals Against (23rd)
15.4% Power Play (23rd)
82.5% Penalty Kill (13th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #18 Bryan Little ~ 14G 18A = 32pts
2. #26 Blake Wheeler ~ 12G 15A = 27pts
3. #33 Dustin Byfugulien ~ 6G 21A = 27pts
4. #16 Andrew Ladd ~ 9G 16A = 25pts
5. #12 Olli Jokinen ~ 8G 15A = 23pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #33 Dustin Byfuglien ~ 42 PIM's
2. #9 Evander Kane ~ 39 PIM's
3. #18 Bryan Little ~ 38 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #31 Ondrej Pavelec (11-16-4) 2.94GAA .905%SP 1SO
2. #35 Al Montoya (5-2-1) 2.23GAA .920%SP 1SO
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As I woke up this morning, I was thinking that as hockey fans, today is our Christmas morning. Today are the first games for the NHL since December 23rd. While I have completely enjoyed spending lots of wonderful time with my family, I'm also glad to get hockey going again. Since today is Christmas Day for hockey fans, I ventured over to our Christmas stocking (StarTribune.com and Twitter) to see what Santa has left for us. Unfortunately, it looks like as Wild fans, we have been left some nasty lumps of coal in our stockings.
First and foremost, the biggest lump of coal we have been left, is that it appears that Zach Parise will miss tonight. Even worse, is that it looks like he could be out for a couple of weeks. Why, you ask? Remember that Alex Steen shot he blocked with his foot back in November? Remember how we were all shocked that he only missed one game? Remember how we thought he'd be out a couple of weeks? Well it seems that that puck to the foot has continued to bother him. So instead we had Zach try to rush back and play with his foot not healed and because he did not take that time to truly recover now we lose him for a week or more. For a team that struggles offensively, 29th in the NHL in goals, this is a nasty blow. However, let me say this. While I don't think Parise is this kind of player, if he sits out until the Olympics, but is suddenly okay to play for the United States in Sochi, I'm going to be a bit ticked. I understand their desire to play for their national teams, but right now I could care less about the Olympics. I'm far more concerned about the fact that we score more goals than only one team in the league.
Adding to the first lump of coal, there is another coming in the form of who the front office recalled to replace Parise. For a team that struggles to score, you would think that the Wild would call up an offensively minded player in order to help bring in some goals. Offensive players like Erik Haula and Jason Zucker come to mind. Instead, they call up Stephane Veilleux. Don't get me wrong, I like Veilleux, I always have. I like his style of game. He's fun to watch, and you can tell he really loves to play hockey whether in the NHL or AHL. I still laugh when I think of the infamous YouTube video where he and Cody McLeod are sitting in their respective boxes, and Veilleux is mocking McLeod for his lack of teeth. Classic. However, to replace a player like Parise with Veilleux simply doesn't add up. Veilleux isn't afraid to go into the dirty parts of the ice. He isn't afraid to get physical. So perhaps that is what the front office is attempting to do, to bring a more physical aspect to the marshmallow-soft Wild game. I love physical hockey, but right now the Minnesota Wild are desperate for goals. Of course who knows. Perhaps throwing Veilleux in the mix will surprise us all.
There still could be a third lump of coal landing in our stockings. The good news however, is that Josh Harding will be making the flight to Winnipeg. At this time, it looks like three Minnesota goaltenders will be on that short flight north, as Johan Gustafsson has not been reassigned to Iowa. I suppose they're not in a hurry to, as the Iowa Wild don't play again until Sunday. Of course, we're not out of the woods yet, as we don't know who will start in Winnipeg tonight. I suppose a lot of that will have to do how the three look in warmups. My guess is Gustafsson will just be there, and whether Harding is really ready to even sit on the bench as a back up after his time off to re-adjust his treatment for muscular schlerosis. My hope is that Harding is ready to go, so that he's able to start. Because let's face it, this team just doesn't seem to play well in front of Niklas Backstrom. Whether that's fair or not, Backstrom has struggled too but the club seems to not provide him almost anyting in terms of goal support and that's a big reason why he has a 2-8-2 record. However, I'm going to be cautiously optimistic on that front.
Santa may have put a small treat in our stocking, however it is up to the guys in white tonight whether it's a treat or another lump of coal. After this abysmal road trip, we get to finish this road trip in Winnipeg. Why is this a good thing? Well the Jets are absolutely horrible at home. Where we choke on the road, the Jets have it even worse. They tend to choke at home, in front of their fans. While we've been served a bunch of losses lately, we've seen very few of them in person. At most, we've paid for a cable/satellite bill. Jets fans have paid for tickets to watch their team lose game after game. As a fan, I can tell you that while losing at anytime is horrible, I'd much rather lose on the road. So perhaps our lumps of coal aren't so bad.
Hey Santa, if you have any magic left in that bag of yours, a Wild win in Winnipeg would be great. I can't handle any more coal.
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