Minnesota Wild (8-5-1) 17pts 3rd in the Central
2.93 Goals For Per Game (9th in the NHL)
2.00 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
14.3% Power Play (21st in the NHL)
88.1% Penalty Kill (5th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 5G 8A = 13pts
2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 8A = 12pts
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 4G 6A = 10pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 4G 4A = 8pts
5. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 3G 5A = 8pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 19 PIM’s
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 18 PIM’s
3. #5 Christian Folin ~ 10 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (6-4-1) 1.65GAA .947%SP 3SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-1-0) 2.94GAA .908%SP
Vs.
Calgary Flames (5-10-1) 11pts 6th in the Pacific
2.38 Goals For Per Game (25th in the NHL)
3.63 Goals Against Per Game (30th in the NHL)
9.4% Power Play (29th in the NHL)
73% Penalty Kill (29th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #67 Michael Frolik ~ 5G 5A = 10pts
2. #13 Johnny Gaudreau ~ 4G 6A = 10pts
3. #36 Troy Brouwer ~ 4G 3A = 7pts
4. #93 Sam Bennett ~ 3G 4A = 7pts
5. #79 Michael Ferland ~ 3G 4A = 7pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #93 Sam Bennett ~ 26 PIM’s
2. #5 Mark Giordano~ 18 PIM’s
3. #27 Dougie Hamilton ~ 18 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #1 Brian Elliott (3-8-0) 3.36GAA .882%SP
2. #31 Chad Johnson (2-2-1) 2.93GAA .893%SP
Full moon. Once in a blue moon. The man in the moon. Over the moon. Shoot for the moon. Love you to the moon and back. Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon.
The moon is one of those things that man has looked at for millennia, and created religions, stories, songs, and artwork about it. It’s one of those things that fueled the Space Race. To this day, we still love to look at the moon. The moon is what makes the tides come in and go out. For many of us, we’re going to be looking out for the super moon. Last night, many were out looking for the November super moon. It’s one of those events, where you have to check it out even if you aren’t really interested in space and astronomy. This will be the brightest that the moon will have appeared to Earth since 1948. And in this day and age of social media and every smart phone has a pretty nice camera on it, Facebook and Twitter are going to be flooded with pictures. What I love about moments like these, is that they remind us how truly insignificant we are.
Looking back at my phrases about the moon, I look at the one “once in a blue moon.” For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, a blue moon is when a month has two full moons in it. And for those of us who work in customer support or with the public, that can be a bit of torture, because you’re well aware of the craziness that surrounds the full moon. Then you multiply that by two because you have two in one month. However, back to the idea of “once in a blue moon” you say this when something rare happens. Well something rare happened Sunday in Ottawa. Not only was it a win in Ottawa of all places, but it was an overtime win. These are two things that just don’t happen to the Wild, but happening together that is something rare indeed. Now, if that managed to happen two nights in a row (well in regard to an overtime win), it would definitely be one of those “once in a blue moon” moments.
Tonight, we get to face another #6 team in their division. When we faced the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, they were in sixth place in their division. And the Wild seemed to play to that level, and hence came out on the losing side of things. Now, we get the Calgary Flames, who are also in sixth place in their division. I’m afraid of what may come the Wild’s way. However, if they do decide to play a solid, defensive game with speed, the Wild should come out on top. But I could also see this game end up in a tie, but the question is this. Could the Wild manage to win two overtime games in a row? That definitely would be one of those “once in a blue moon” moments. Last season, overtime games were brutal for the Wild and their fans. If a game would go to overtime, there were many times I was tempted to just turn off the television and go to bed, because I knew how things would end up. I’d like to hope that we’ll see more of those one points earned in overtime converted into two points for the overtime win. Just imagine if a few more overtime games last seasons had gotten both points. Would they have made the playoffs on their own merit, instead of fighting for a Wild Card spot based on another team’s failure?
Changes are on the horizon for the Wild. I’ve definitely been pleased with some of the changes we’ve seen. There are still plenty to go. But hopefully we get more shoot the moon moments instead of full moon hysteria.
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