Minnesota Wild (31-16-3) 65pts 3rd in the Central
3.72 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
3.08 Goals Against Per Game (21st in the NHL)
20% Power Play (18th in the NHL)
78.7% Penalty Kill (19th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 24G 39A = 63pts
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 17G 36A = 53pts
3. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 17G 27A = 44pts
4. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 19G 18A = 37pts
5. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 16G 12A = 28pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 87 PIM’s
2. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 67 PIM’s
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 56 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #33 Cam Talbot (19-11-1) 2.94GAA .910% 1SO
2. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (12-5-2) 2.67GAA .917%
Vs.
Calgary Flames (31-14-6) 68pts 1st in the Pacific
3.43 Goals For Per Game (8th in the NHL)
2.43 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in the NHL)
22.3% Power Play (11th in the NHL)
84.5% Penalty Kill (6th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #13 Johnny Gaudreau ~ 20G 45A = 65pts
2. #19 Matthew Tkachuk ~ 26G 33A = 59pts
3. #28 Elias Lindholm ~ 23G 28A = 51pts
4. #88 Andrew Mangiapane ~ 27G 9A = 36pts
5. #4 Rasmus Andersson ~ 2G 27A = 29pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Milan Lucic ~ 57 PIM’s
2. #44 Erik Gudbranson ~ 53 PIM’s
3. #20 Blake Coleman ~ 48 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #25 Jacob Markstrom (24-11-5) 2.13GAA .925% 8SO
2. #80 Daniel Vladar (7-3-1) 2.86GAA .903% 2SO
Lines:
Calgary Flames
J.Gaudreau~E.Lindholm~M.Tkachuk
Mangiapane~Backlund~Coleman
Lucic~Monahan~Toffoli
Lewis~Richardson~B.Ritchie
Hanifin~Andersson
Kylington~C.Tanev
Zadorov~Gudbranson
Markstrom
Vladar
Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov~Eriksson Ek~Zuccarello
Fiala~F.Gaudreau~Boldy
Dewar~Hartman~M.Foligno
Duhaime~Sturm~Bjugstad
Goligoski~Spurgeon
Brodin~Kulikov
Merrill~Jo.Benn
Talbot
Kahkonen
I don’t know about you, but waking up at 3am for whatever unknown reason, simply shouldn’t happen. But alas, that is what has happened this morning. Then to make matters worse, I figure I might as well write this preview as I’m unable to fall back asleep. Sometimes the sacrifices we as fans make for this team are mind-boggling. Of course, my entire day is going to be completely thrown off. At least if there’s one thing going for the day, at least this game starts at a humane time, as opposed to the debacle on Saturday night. Speaking of that game, in our house, we only managed to watch the first period before blessed sleep over took us. At least we avoided the crap show that was Saturday’s game.
And that’s the thing about this team, you just never know when you’re going to get served that hefty dose of disappointment. But here’s the thing, looking at a combination of the schedule and the standings, we should have known this was coming. It was there for all but the most diehard of the homers to see. Then when you combined that with history and trends, the losses in Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary were bound to happen. And if you want to be a true Minnesotan, combine that with the plague that is Minnesota sports teams failing at the worst possible moment, you pretty much have a recipe for disaster. We’ve all been there, but it continues to smart each time it happens.
While the embarrassment on the ice in Calgary happened, hopefully it is not forgotten by the players. At the very least during yesterday’s practice, the players were ticked off. I mean that’s good to see and all, but I wonder how long that “anger” will last once the puck drops. If the words of head coach Dean Evason are anything to go by, I hope the anger lasts until the sometime in the second period. However, considering that all it really takes some games is adding a physical element, that anger may only last for the first five minutes. I know that sounds rather self-defeating, but it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen that happen. And it certainly won’t be the last either.
So, what do the Wild need to do tonight? First, they need to be ready for a physical game. If you’re a longtime fan of this team, you remember those physical games of the old Northwest Division. You know, back when games in Western Canada were a regular happening. Even in those seasons where Calgary and Edmonton were not great, you could pretty much guarantee it was going to be a physical game. Now, Calgary is finding success, yet they can still lay the hurt on the opposition. I cannot stress the absolute importance of being ready and willing to play the physical game.
Secondly, they have to get shots on goal. While the Wild eventually closed the gap on the shot differential, getting only four lonely shots on goal in the first period is unforgivable. Sure Frederik Gaudreau opened up the scoring for the night, but it wasn’t enough to propel the team to do much more. Yes, it’s hard to get more shots on goal when they”re constantly getting hit, but they need to fight through that. And of course Calgary will use Minnesota’s aversion to getting hit against them. And with there being a chance that Calgary will start backup goaltender Daniel Vladar (please tell me I’m not the only one calling him Darth Vladar), he needs to be tested early.
Thirdly, Minnesota absolutely must stay out of the penalty box. One of these days, a break down of types of penalties by each player needs to be made. I don’t know about you, but I’m curious to see who is taking what kinds of penalties. To take things even further, it would be interesting to see if certain penalties are more prevalent during certain periods (like when dealing with the long change of the 2nd period). Certain slower players will most likely be the ones getting tagged for hooking, interference, etc. But the important part of it all, is that the Minnesota Wild take too many penalties. I really hope that at some point this team figures out that they need to play a cleaner game. And if they can figure that out before the post-season, that would help.
It is my hope that Minnesota avoids a repeat of Saturday night. I don’t know if that is possible, but I’d like to hope that they’ve learned their lesson. We shall see.
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