Minnesota Wild (35-12-5) 75pts 1st in the Central
3.35 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
2.29 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in the NHL)
20.6% Power Play (13th in the NHL)
82.5% Penalty Kill (11th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 15G 33A = 48pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 16G 26A = 42pts
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 13G 28A = 41pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 17G 21A = 38pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 16G 22A = 38pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 58 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 41 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 28 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (29-9-3) 1.99GAA .933%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (6-3-2) 3.16GAA .907%SP
Vs.
Chicago Blackhawks (32-17-5) 69pts 2nd in the Central
2.78 Goals For Per Game (11th in the NHL)
2.59 Goals Against Per Game (10th in the NHL)
18.5% Power Play (17th in the NHL)
76.4% Penalty Kill (28th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 17G 35A = 52pts
2. #72 Artemi Parnarin ~ 18G 30A = 48pts
3. #15 Artem Anisimov ~ 18G 19A = 37pts
4. #2 Duncan Keith ~ 4G 32A = 36pts
5. #81 Marian Hossa ~ 19G 14A = 33pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #15 Artem Anisimov ~ 30 PIM’s
2. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 26 PIM’s
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 26 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #50 Corey Crawford (20-12-3) 2.58GAA .917%SP 2SO
2. #33 Scott Darling (12-5-2) 2.31GAA .925%SP 2SO
Lines:
Chicago Blackhawks
Schmaltz~Toews~Hossa
Parnarin~Anisimov~P. Kane
Dejardins~Rasmussen~Panik
Hartman~Kero~Hinstroza
Keith~Hjalmarsson
Campbell~Seabrook
Forsling~van Riemsdyk
Crawford
Darling
Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter~Staal~Tuch
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Parise~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Coyle
Suter~Spurgeon
Scandella~Dumba
Prosser~Reilly
Dubnyk
Kuemper
I’m going to make a bold statement. And trust me, this is going to come as a bit of shock, especially considering how happy I’ve been with the standings. It’s been fun sitting at the top of both the Central Division and Western Conference. It’s even more fun sitting at the top considering that Minnesota is six points ahead of tonight’s opponent. However, there is danger lurking in the standings. And I don’t think this danger is something that anyone has noticed or talked about. If the playoffs were to start today, we should be very, very concerned. Sure, there would be no first round faceoff with Chicago. What is waiting there for a first round opponent is far more detrimental, at least based on this season. What would be waiting for Minnesota, would be a first round match up with the Calgary Flames. Most teams wouldn’t worry, but with how the regular season series went, it would be a tough first round. So here’s what I’m hoping for. Either the Calgary Flames make a serious push and the St. Louis Blues stumble a bit, so that the Flames take the seventh spot in the Western Conference. That would be ideal. The other option is this, and it’s the bold statement I alluded to earlier. If the Flames stay in eighth place, then I kind of want Chicago or San Jose to find a way to take the first place spot in the Western Conference. However, as the old saying goes, you learn from your failures, so hopefully by playoff times, the Wild will figure out how to beat Calgary.
Now, let us turn to tonight’s opponent. First off, it’s going to be Minnesota’s first home game in what feels like forever. The last time the Wild played at the Xcel Energy Center was January 26th, just prior to the All-Star Break. Since then, there’s been a delightful tour of western Canada, packed with late night games for those of us back home. We finally got back on a more normal schedule with last night’s game in Winnipeg. Even better, tonight marks the first night of an eight game homestand. Yes, you read that correctly, the next eight games will all be played from the friendly confines of Xcel Energy Center. Now the comforts of home do come with their own pitfalls. What you want is for the Wild to play for the fans, especially tonight against Chicago. There’s pride on the line with the Blackhawks. When you’ve won the past eight regular season games against a divisional opponent you want that trend to continue. Plus with it being a divisional opponent, you need that trend to continue. As everyone talks about, a divisional win, especially against the second place team who is used to being in first place, is really a four point game instead of just two points. A win by the Wild will have Minnesota eight points ahead of Chicago. Whereas a win by the Blackhawks, Minnesota would only be four points ahead.
In order to get that eight point lead, we need more of what we saw last night. When you get nine points out of Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Jason Pominville in one game, good things are going to happen. To say this line has struggled this season would be putting it lightly. For the Wild to continue as they have been, we need more big games out of those players. Lately, it’s felt like it’s been the Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, and Mikko Koivu nights. They’ve been coming through when others have stumbled. However, we’re at a point in the season where we need all hands on deck. Like I mentioned in yesterday’s preview, Minnesota’s success this season has come from the fact that we’re getting scoring from more than just one line. The Wild have ten players with ten or more goals. That certainly helps matters. Chicago has seven players with ten or more goals. And I’d like to point out that Jonathan Toews has only ten goals this season. In past seasons, he would be one of Chicago’s better goal scorers, but this has not been his season. With players like him struggling to find goals, it explains why Chicago is in 11th place when it comes to goals for per game. Heck, their Top Five when it comes to points aren’t that much better than Minnesota’s when you look at it on paper. But of course, that’s on paper not on ice. Patrick Kane loves to have a good night against Minnesota. If the Wild’s 2nd best in the league goals against can figure out a way to keep the opponent off the scoresheet (or at the very least limit the chances), Minnesota could make this the ninth straight regular season win against the Blackhawks.
I like Minnesota’s chances. Between the long win streak they had back in December and some of their “lesson learned” losses recently, I think they finally have found their identity and confidence. They can walk into just about any game now and believe they have a good chance of coming out victorious. Hiring Bruce Boudreau was probably one of the best decisions General Manager Chuck Fletcher has made for this team. Boudreau knows when to shuffle the lines. He knows who to put on what lines and pairings. Hopefully, this is finally the team that also solves Boudreau’s playoff puzzle. Of course, we still have a ways to go, but it feels good to finally feel confident. And I’ll take confident over comfortable any day.
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