| Record | Pts | Div. Rank | G/G | GA/G | PP% | PK% | |
| Minnesota Wild | (19-15-5) | 43 | 3rd NW | 2.56 (20) | 2.80 (14) | 21.8%(6) |
81.2% (19) |
| Boston Bruins |
(21-11-6) | 48 | 1st NE | 2.87 (13) | 2.10 (1) | 17.7% (15) | 85.4% (5) |
| Minnesota Wild | |||
| Top 5 Scorers: | G | A | Pts |
| 1. #24 Martin Havlet | 8 | 27 | 35 |
| 2. #9 Mikko Koivu | 9 | 25 | 34 |
| 3. #8 Brent Burns | 12 | 14 | 26 |
| 4. #7 Matt Cullen | 8 | 15 | 23 |
| 5. #15 Andrew Brunette | 9 | 12 | 21 |
| Top 3 Penalty Minutes: | PIM | ||
| 1. #16 Brad Staubitz | 63 | ||
| 2. #8 Brent Burns | 45 | ||
| 3. #9 Mikko Koivu | 28 | ||
| Goaltenders: | GAA | SV% | |
| 1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (13-10-3) | 2.58 | .919 | |
| 2. #60 Jose Theodore (6-5-2) | 2.75 | .911 | |
Boston Bruins |
|||
| Top 5 Scorers: | G | A | Pts |
| 1. #17 Milan Lucic | 16 | 12 | 28 |
| 2. #18 Nathan Horton | 12 | 14 | 26 |
| 3. #46 David Krejci | 7 | 18 | 25 |
| 4. #37 Patrice Bergeron | 8 | 16 | 24 |
| 5. #73 Michael Ryder | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| Top 3 Penalty Minutes: | PIM | ||
| 1. #22 Shawn Thornton | 62 | ||
| 2. #17 Milan Lucic | 58 | ||
| 3. #11 Gregory Campbell | 44 | ||
| Goaltenders: | GAA | SV% | |
| 1. #30 Tim Thomas (18-4-5) | 1.80 | .945 | |
| 2. #40 Tuukka Rask (3-7-1) | 2.63 | .927 | |
Questions, questions everywhere. How they’re answered, no one knows.
For the first time in a long time, the Wild have a chance to get a three-game winning streak going. It seems like forever since the Wild have had any sort of winning streak. Truth be told, the Wild had to win Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils. There would have been absolutely no excuse for a loss at Prudential Center against the National Hockey League’s worst team. But with the Wild’s track record for ill-timed, disappointing losses, it wouldn’t have been unusual for the Wild to fail after their big win in a back and forth game against the Phoenix Coyotes. Now we have to see if they can continue their winning ways.
Tonight, Minnesota heads into an arena that has been very kind to the Wild. In the Wild’s ten year history, they are 8-1-1 against the Bruins. Even better, they have a perfect record when playing in Boston (5-0). It seems that Minnesota is the only team in the league that can make such a claim. However, the realist (or perhaps pessimist) in me tells me that this record can’t last forever. This season could easily be the season where the Wild’s good fortune ends. Looking at Boston’s team stats, I have a bad feeling. They have the best goals against per game in the league. For a team like the Wild who have a hard time scoring goals, that does not bode well for the team wearing their white jerseys tonight. To compound the fact, Boston will most likely have Tim Thomas in net. The Bruins goaltender currently boasts the best goals against average (1.80) as well as save percentage (.945%). Thankfully, both Niklas Backstrom and Jose Theodore have excellent records against the Bruins.
The winner for this game really depends on the skaters for the respective teams. We know that the Wild have a tough time scoring. Of course the Wild’s issues start with the fact that they get so few shots on goal. With a team like the Bruins who don’t allow goals and have fantastic goaltending, tonight has to be the night where Minnesota has to break out of their aversion of taking shots. Yes, the Wild have won games with a mere 16 shots on goal, but tonight is not the night to try and continue that trend. Of course there is the belief that a goaltender that faces few shots in a game can be caught off guard, but I doubt that the few, low-percentage shots that usually the Wild take will fool Thomas (or even Tuukka Rask for that matter).
Personally, I’m not holding my breath regarding tonight’s game. Actually, I’m feeling rather pessimistic. It’s probably a good thing that I’ll be at work during tonight’s game.
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