Minnesota Wild (27-10-3) 57pts 3rd in the Central
3.80 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
2.93 Goals Against Per Game (17th in the NHL)
18.8% Power Play (21st in the NHL)
80.2% Penalty Kill (15th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 18G 34A = 52pts
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 13G 27A = 40pts
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 18G 15A = 33pts
4. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 12G 20A = 32pts
5. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 17G 10A = 27pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 75 PIM’s
2. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 56 PIM’s
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 46 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #33 Cam Talbot (17-8-1) 2.92GAA .910SV%
2. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (10-2-2) 2.53GAA .922SV%
Vs.
Chicago Blackhawks (16-22-7) 39pts 7th in the Central
2.42 Goals For Per Game (29th in the NHL)
3.33 Goals Against Per Game (24th in the NHL)
19.2% Power Play (18th in the NHL)
75.2% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 11G 31A = 42pts
2. #12 Alex DeBrincat ~ 26G 10A = 36pts
3. #4 Seth Jones ~ 3G 26A = 29pts
4. #38 Brandon Hagel ~ 12G 12A = 24pts
5. #19 Jonathan Toews ~ 4G 15A = 19pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #77 Kirby Dach ~ 33 PIM’s
2. #5 Connor Murphy ~ 29 PIM’s
3. #22 Ryan Carpenter ~ 29 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (14-15-3) 2.85GAA .910SV% 3SO
2. #32 Kevin Lankinen (2-5-4) 3.41GAA .889SV%
3. #60 Colin Delia (0-1-0) 9.00GAA .571SV%
Lines:
Chicago Blackhawks
Hagel~D.Strome~P.Kane
DeBrincat~Dach~Kurashev
Kubalik~Lafferty~Connolly
Borgstrom~Carpenter~Entwistle
McCabe~S.Jones
De Haan~Murphy
C.Jones~Gustafsson
Fleury
Delia
Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov~Hartman~Zuccarello
Greenway~Eriksson Ek~M.Foligno
Fiala~F.Gaudreau~Boldy
Dewar~V.Rask~Duhaime
Goligoski~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Jo.Benn~Kulikov
Talbot
Kahkonen
Well if you woke up this morning, and somehow forgot, today is Groundhog Day. You know, that weird day that celebrates whether or not a giant rodent sees its shadow. For those of us who live where winter is a real thing, this can make or break your day. I don’t know about you, but winter is winter, and will go for as long as it wants. Since the groundhog isn’t exactly an expert in weather and its patterns, I’ll go with the only slightly more accurate meteorologist. He can’t possibly get weather predictions more wrong than a rodent, can he?
Of course, when we think of Groundhog Day, it always makes me think of the 1993 Bill Murray movie. If you haven’t had a day where it feels like you’ve lived it over and over again, I’m not sure if you’re really human. Truly though, the movie takes that feeling to the ridiculously sublime, in the best of ways. I don’t know about you, but the repeat of seeing the character Ned over and over again, just makes me chuckle.
So here we are, with the Minnesota Wild in a bit of a Groundhog Day situation. If you can’t see some eerie similarities to another win streak this season, I’m not sure what you’re watching. When I pull up the schedule to mid November through early to mid December, I see those similarities. The Wild were on an 8-game winning streak, and things were looking great. Minnesota was sitting at the top of the Central Division, and you had to wonder “is this the year.”
But then, reality set in. First, it started with losses to Los Angeles, Vegas, and Buffalo. After that, then the Covid-19 related postponements started. Instead of having the usual break for the Christmas holiday, the Wild had essentially a 2-week vacation with a lone game, and loss, in Dallas. Sadly, all of this was capped off by an embarrassing loss to Saint Louis in the Winter Classic Game at Target Field. I don’t know, but I think that loss woke the team up to a degree. In the last nine games since the Winter Classic, Minnesota has only lost one game. And that one loss, was a shootout loss against Colorado.
Currently, the Wild are on a 5-game win streak. It should come as no surprise that Minnesota would come up against Chicago tonight. Yes, the Wild had back-to-back wins in a home-and-home series against Chicago within this 5-game streak, but I can’t say that makes me feel any more confident. Sure, the Blackhawks are not the team they used to be, but they still have a way of getting into the Wild’s head.
It doesn’t help my confidence for tonight, that the Wild will be without Marcus Foligno and Matt Dumba tonight. In the case of Foligno, we will be missing a team leader in the locker room, the team tough guy, and a guy who seems to have found his scoring niche. Like I said in the preview for the Islanders game, he would be the scoring leader on that team, which I’m sure no one thought they’d ever so those words. Heck, I don’t know if Foligno himself would ever find himself to be the leading scorer on any team. In light of Dumba’s absence, the Wild are bringing seven defensemen with them to Chicago, and that 7th guy will be Kevin Czuczman.
I have to ask this question, but why are the Wild starting Cam Talbot tonight? If I was Kaapo Kahkonen, I know I would be a bit annoyed. However, it feels like the Finnish goaltender is a lot more laid back than another Finnish goaltender this team has had in the past. If I was the coaching staff and front office, I’d be playing Kahkonen even more, simply to see what his future may be. But I suppose, this team has to play their “starter” more often than not. I don’t know about you, but there are things about Talbot that sometimes remind me of a certain quarterback on a certain Minneapolis-based NFL team.
So let’s look ahead to tonight, and see what needs to be done to make it a 6-game winning streak. Firstly, Minnesota needs to put pressure on Chicago from the first puck drop. Not only do they need to apply pressure, but they absolutely cannot let up. Secondly, they cannot allow Patrick Kane any room on the ice. Even in his 15th season in the NHL, he still has nights where he looks like a candidate for the Calder Trophy, which he won in 2007-08. Lastly, they cannot allow the Blackhawks into their heads. Ever since Chicago drafted Kane and Jonathan Toews, they’ve been a force to be reckoned with in the league. And we’ve all seen how the Wild have fared against the team when they need to be successful.
Now it is Minnesota’s time to shine in the league, but as the Minnesota sports’ fans that we are, who knows if that can even happen. But hey, at least tonight’s game is a nationally broadcast game finally.
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