Minnesota Wild (17-8-4) 38pts 2nd in the Central
2.90 Goals For Per Game (8th in the NHL)
1.97 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
16% Power Play (20th in the NHL)
84.1% Penalty Kill (7th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 9G 13A = 22pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 10G 11A = 21pts
3. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 8G 12A = 20pts
4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 7G 13A = 20pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 6G 11A = 17pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 40 PIM’s
2. #63 Kurtis Gabriel ~ 24 PIM’s
3. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 20 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (15-6-3) 1.62GAA .947%SP 4SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-2-1) 3.36GAA .897%SP
Vs.
Arizona Coyotes (11-14-5) 27pts 7th in the Pacific
2.20 Goals For Per Game (29th in the NHL)
3.07 Goals Against Per Game (28th in the NHL)
14.8% Power Play (26th in the NHL)
80.8% Penalty Kill (19th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #17 Radim Vrbata ~ 8G 12A = 20pts
2. #23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson ~ 6G 9A = 15pts
3. #8 Tobias Rieder ~ 7G 6A = 13pts
4. #48 Justin Martinook ~ 6G 7A = 13pts
5. #33 Alex Goligoski ~ 1G 11A = 12pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #25 Ryan White ~ 60 PIM’s
2. #6 Jakub Chychrun ~ 29 PIM’s
3. #67 Lawson Crouse ~ 23 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #41 Mike Smith (7-4-4) 2.59GAA .932%SP
2. #35 Louis Domingue (4-9-1) 3.37GAA .898%SP
Lines:
Arizona Coyotes
Perlini~Hanzal~Vrbata
Rieder~Martinook~Doan
J. McGinn~Holland~Duclair
Crouse-Dvorak~Jooris
Ekman-Larsson~L. Schenn
Goligoski~DeAngelo
Chychrun~Stone
Smith
Domingue
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Pominville
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Niederreiter~Haula~Coyle
Stewart~Graovac~Gabriel
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Scandella~Folin
Dubnyk
Kuemper
History often shades our perception of fact. As Minnesota Wild fans, we’re used to being known as a team that just doesn’t score many goals. It’s part of our history, part of our DNA so to say. We’ve become so used to it, that we continue to believe it. Even when it’s not true. That is the case right now. When I look at the current stats for the Wild, I continually do a double take. Why you ask? Because in my perception of history and fact, it makes absolutely no sense at all that the Wild are in the top ten in the league when it comes to goals for. But here’s the thing. Minnesota is able to score even strength. For me at least, I think the perception is shaded by the fact that it’s near impossible for them to score on the power play. Now I’ll admit, I’m impressed that the power play is as high as it is. Considering how ineffectual it is, I would have thought its place in the league is much, much lower. Yet again, my perception of fact has been greatly shaded by history.
So now we need to turn to more recent history for the Wild as well as today’s opponent. First off, in the past 10 games, the Wild are an impressive 7-1-2. Even more impressive is that they’re currently riding a 6-game winning streak, a streak that is only bested by Philadelphia (10-game winning streak) and Columbus (7-game winning streak). This recent bout of success now has them sitting in 2nd place in the Central Division. We need to temper that a bit as Minnesota is tied with St. Louis in a points battle, but it definitely feels good. Now if there was some sort of miraculous way to overtake Chicago, then that would be very impressive. Since I don’t see that happening any time soon (if ever), I’m going to stick with the small victories.
Now today’s opponent, the Arizona Coyotes are experiencing some small victories of their own. First off, they’ve won 3 of their past 4 games. That might not seem impressive for most, but after a 6-game losing streak, it’s something to be celebrated. Again, small victory. For a team who really does have limited scoring (as compared to my perception of the Wild’s scoring), the Coyotes are going to take anything they can get. And right now, the team’s hero is their goaltender, Mike Smith. In five of his last ten starts, he has been forced to make 40 or more saves. When you’re asking your goaltender to do that much work without scoring goals, you’re going to be sitting in 6th place in your division. When a goaltender is making that many saves, it’s up to the skaters to doing their part. And clearly, the Arizona skaters aren’t, either offensively or defensively. The team goals against is proof that there’s little defense being played. Smith is doing his part (as his stats show), he’s just being let down by the other five guys on the ice.
And since we’re talking about goaltenders and skaters doing their parts, we’re going to see if that applies for the Wild as well. Getting his first start since the 5-4 loss in Vancouver, will be Darcy Kuemper. It’s hard to say if his teammates will give him the support he needs. If I had to think about this game based on past history, we know that this team plays down to lesser teams. Arizona definitely qualifies as “lesser” and this is the kind of trap game that the Wild love to fall right into. If both teams fail to support their goaltenders, it could be a painful game for everyone. However, based on the stats, it would be Minnesota scoring more goals than Arizona. I’m just hoping for once stats come out ahead of history. I don’t think I could watch another failure of a game when things have been going so well lately. Of course when things are going well, that’s when we get lulled into a sense of peace, only to have reality crash us back to earth.
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