Minnesota Wild (27-9-5) 59pts 1st in the Central
3.27 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
2.15 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in the NHL)
19.5% Power Play (13th in the NHL)
84.6% Penalty Kill ( in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 15G 24A = 39pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 13G 21A = 34pts
3. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 10G 24A = 34pts
4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 13G 17A = 30pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 11G 17A = 28pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 51 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 39 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 22 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (22-7-3) 1.77GAA .940%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (5-2-2) 3.30GAA .901%SP
Vs.
Chicago Blackhawks (27-13-5) 59pts 2nd in the Central
2.71 Goals For Per Game (16th in the NHL)
2.49 Goals Against Per Game (7th in the NHL)
18.8% Power Play (14th in the NHL)
76.3% Penalty Kill (28th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 12G 33A = 45pts
2. #72 Artemi Parnarin ~ 17G 25A = 42pts
3. #15 Artem Anisimov ~ 18G 13A = 31pts
4. #2 Duncan Keith ~ 2G 29A = 31pts
5. #81 Marian Hossa ~ 16G 9A = 25pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 24 PIM’s
2. #15 Artem Anisimov ~ 22 PIM’s
3. #19 Jonathan Toews ~ 19 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #50 Corey Crawford (16-8-3) 2.47GAA .922%SP 2SO
2. #33 Scott Darling (11-4-2) 2.31GAA .925%SP 1SO
Lines:
Chicago Blackhawks
Hinostroza~Toews~Hossa
Panarin~Anisimov~Kane
Hartman~Kero~Panik
Dejardins~Rasmussen~Tootoo
Keith~Hjalmarsson
Kempny~Seabrook
Cambell~Tr. van Riemsdyk
Crawford
Darling
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Coyle
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Niederreiter~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Schroeder
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Folin
Scandella~Dumba
Dubnyk
Kuemper
One of the most popular threads on the wild.com message boards is the predictions thread. I am going to guess the vast majority of people just go with a gut feeling and make their score prediction for that night’s game. They do it because it feels good to say “told ya so” when their score or something close to it happens and they feel like they knew something others did not. Its not my thing, but hey, whatever floats your boat! There are of course other places like Las Vegas betting sites and people who get into analytics who like to make projections using various algorithms and mathematical formulas to make people feel as though they have an edge in their predictions and thus wager a bet with greater confidence. One of those sites is Moneypuck.com, who after each night of games update those predictions about whether a team is going to make the playoffs, advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs, etc and possibly onto the Stanley Cup Finals. I am sure Wild fans will love the fact that Colorado has a .41% chance to make the playoffs this season.
Anyways, back to the Wild and tonight’s game against the Blackhawks. It is strange the Wild had to wait until January of 2017 before their first meeting with their division rival. But perhaps the waiting will intensify the match up and with the division lead on the line that might be about the safest prediction anyone could make. The Blackhawks have started to play better as of late as they are 5-4-1 in their last 10, but that really has only managed to barely keep pace with the Wild. So why have they struggled?
Injuries has forced the Blackhawks to lean more on call ups from Rockford. Another factor has been underwhelming play from key players like Jonathan Toews who is still an ‘All Star’ despite having just 7 goals, 21 points in 36 games this season. Yet Chicago is starting to show signs of heating up offensively. Patrick Kane, Artemi Parnarin and Artem Anisimov have become the Blackhawks’ go-to punch but they’ve managed to get some decent secondary scoring from unsung players like Richard Panik and Ryan Hartman.
Defensively the big 3 of Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook carry most of the load defensively. But it is here where some of the eroding of that once air tight Chicago defense has been the most notable. Cap restraints have forced them to provide more opportunities to younger and cheaper players as Trevor van Riemsdyk, European star Michal Kempny try to fill in. Michal Roszival is the veteran presence on the 3rd pairing.
Corey Crawford is still the underappreciated workhorse for the Blackhawks, but he’s had reasonable success against the Wild and no doubt will get the start tonight. Devan Dubnyk will hopefully bolster a Wild defense that appeared a bit porous last night. Marco Scandella and Mathew Dumba have to be better in their own end and Minnesota’s success might rest more on the team’s ability to defend than its ability to score. Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon will get a lot of shifts against the Panarin, Kane, Anisimov (providing he’s healthy enough to play) tonight. With Blackhawks Head Coach Joel Quenneville‘s emphasis on match ups and being the home team no doubt he’ll try to get that line against Scandella and Dumba as much as possible.
Up front the Wild must play its game and I think this is another game where Minnesota can use its transition game to great effect. What else must the Wild do in order to earn a victory in Chicago this evening?
- Play fast and be economical with the puck – What I mean by being economical with the puck is take what Chicago is giving them and don’t force bad passes. The Blackhawks thrive on possession and bad turnovers means the Wild will waste energy it doesn’t have chasing the puck. I also think the Wild can use their speed to good advantage against the Blackhawks and their transition game has piled up goals lately and a good transition game will force Chicago to be a bit more conservative in their approach.
- The 4th line is your friend – The Wild’s 4th line has been playing better as of late and especially in a back to back Minnesota would be wise to keep their 4th line in regular rotation as much as they can to save the legs of its top 9. Chris Stewart, Tyler Groavac and Jordan Schroeder need to realize this game is an opportunity to prove they are deserving of more opportunity and a big game from them could be the difference between winning and losing this evening.
- Use hustle to draw penalties – A back-to-back is always tough, but the Wild must dig deep and hustle and try to draw some penalties on one of the least penalized teams in the league. Chicago’s penalty kill is atrocious and Minnesota’s power play has been better as of late, so we might as well take advantage of this.
No matter what this should be one heckuva game. The Wild have to be feeling confident and it will be interesting if this kind of pressure pushes Minnesota to another level of focus or will Chicago remind us the road to a Central division title still goes through the Windy City?
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