Minnesota Wild (37-12-6) 80pts 1st in the Central
3.35 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
2.31 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in the NHL)
22% Power Play (6th in the NHL)
82.4% Penalty Kill (10th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 16G 34A = 50pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 16G 28A = 44pts
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 14G 30A = 44pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 19G 23A = 42pts
5. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 16G 24A = 40pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 60 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 43 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 32 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (31-9-3) 1.99GAA .933%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (6-3-3) 3.22GAA .904%SP
Vs.
Anaheim Ducks (29-18-10) 68pts 2nd in the Pacific
2.61 Goals For Per Game (19th in the NHL)
2.54 Goals Against Per Game (7th in the NHL)
20.6% Power Play (12th in the NHL)
83.8% Penalty Kill (7th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #17 Ryan Kesler ~ 19G 25A = 44pts
2. #15 Ryan Getzlaf ~ 9G 33A = 42pts
3. #10 Corey Perry ~ 11G 28A = 39pts
4. #33 Jakob Silfverberg ~ 17G 19A = 36pts
5. #67 Rickard Rakell ~ 22G 10A = 32pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #40 Jared Boll ~ 68 PIM’s
2. #42 Josh Manson ~ 61 PIM’s
3. #2 Kevin Bieksa ~ 50 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #36 John Gibson (21-14-8) 2.36GAA .918%SP 3SO
2. #1 Jonathan Bernier (8-4-2) 2.80GAA .906%SP 1SO
Lines:
Anaheim Ducks
Vermette~Getzlaf~Silfverberg
N. Ritchie~Rakell~Perry
Cogliano~Kesler~Shaw
Cramarossa~Thompson~Boll
Fowler~Montour
Lindholm~Manson
Theodore~Bieksa
Gibson
Bernier
Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter~Staal~Coyle
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Parise~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Schreoder
Suter~Spurgeon
Scandella~Dumba
Olofsson~Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Okay people. If you’re dating someone or married, I hope you’ve taken care of your obligatory Greeting Card Day responsibilities. Especially if you’re in a newer relationship or newly married. Trust me, this is something you cannot and should not mess up. And guys, unless your wife or girlfriend specifically said “hey, I need a new vacuum cleaner and I’d like that for Valentine’s Day” do not under and circumstances (except her telling you that’s what she wants) get her a vacuum cleaner. As women, we have long memories and will guilt you forever. For those of us in longer relationships we do get to the point where we might ask for a vacuum cleaner or something for the house. I’ve been married 11 years, and generally we stay pretty low-key here. A gift might be candy. Or a dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Because of my less than ideal work schedule, we won’t be going out. In fact, I will miss all but probably the last five minutes of tonight’s game. My gift will be a tasty, home cooked dinner that will be ready for my husband to pop in the oven so we can eat together when my dinner break rolls around (I’m fortunate in that I work from home). However, I was surprised when I went into my home office to get something this morning and found a box on my desk. Inside said box was a necklace made by the wife of a good friend of ours. I was surprised and impressed because it’s beautiful and clearly he put some thought into this. Well done dear.
Now with love in the air, it will be interesting to see how much our beloved Minnesota Wild love us in return. So far, this season has felt like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s all rolled into one. We have been gifted with upbeat, offensive play and quality goaltending most nights of the season. I’m sure there are those who will say it’s the players themselves who finally figured their sh*t out, but I don’t think it’s that. This group has had several seasons to figure that out. Some of them like Mikko Koivu, have had four coaches prior to this season and were still floundering. But this season has been different, and the only thing that can really explain that flip of the switch would be head coach Bruce Boudreau. He pretty much came in saying he’s going to be in charge and he will be the one determining the lines and icetime. I know I was holding my breath to see if that would really happen. Thankfully it has. The difference is that Boudreau is more of an old-school coach, where he’s in charge and the players can either play his game and be successful or be miserable. Even better, Boudreau made wise assistant coaching moves in bringing in John Anderson and Scott Stevens. We see the benefits every night. Boudreau and his assistant coaches are kind of like a bunch of cupids flying around making fans love this team even more.
So while we’re looking forward to this game, there has been some roster shuffling in the past 24-48 hours. First off, Tyler Graovac was put on waivers in order to move him back to Iowa, as long as no one claims him. With Graovac possibly being sent down, the Wild re-called Zack Mitchell and Alex Tuch. With that in mind, it will be Jordan Schroeder that will be scratched tonight. It was a sloppy game on Sunday, but I don’t think Graovac was the entire problem. Let’s face it, Devan Dubnyk was not having a great night. His reaction time felt really sluggish and there were moments where it felt like the puck just sat their in the crease and he was simply staring at it. And Dubnyk wasn’t the only one just standing there either. It seems that Graovac’s downfall was his failure in faceoffs on the fourth line. Considering how strong this team has been with faceoffs this season, we need that strength on all lines. Boudreau is hoping that we’ll get the strength from either Tuch or Mitchell to make this the fully rounded team that we haven’t really had. Although considering that both Tuch and Mitchell are listed as right wings, it will be interesting to see who will take Graovac’s spot at center.
With “new” roster members, it will be interesting to see if we get the kind of Valentine’s gift that needs to happen. And trust me, there will be no lovie-dovie thoughts or actions coming from Anaheim. Considering the break up Anaheim had with Boudreau, the Ducks may come out like the vindictive ex we know they can be. They’re going to be looking for revenge for the loss they suffered at the hands of Minnesota in Anaheim last month. I’d like to keep them as the bitter ex while Minnesota keeps to excel with their new coach.
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