Minnesota Wild (34-19-3) 71pts 3rd in the Central
3.73 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
3.23 Goals Against Per Game (23rd in the NHL)
20.2% Power Play (17th in the NHL)
76.2% Penalty Kill (23rd in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 29G 43A = 72pts
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 18G 40A = 58pts
3. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 20G 32A = 52pts
4. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 23G 19A = 42pts
5. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 19G 12A = 31pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 93 PIMs
2. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 75 PIMs
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 61 PIMs
Top Goaltenders:
1. #33 Cam Talbot (22-12-1) 3.00GAA .906SV% 1SO
2. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (12-7-2) 2.86GAA .912SV%
Vs.
Columbus Blue Jackets (28-27-3) 59pts 5th in the Metropolitan
3.22 Goals For Per Game (10th in the NHL)
3.69 Goals Against Per Game (30th in the NHL)
17.8% Power Play (24th in the NHL)
79.3% Penalty Kill (18th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #38 Boone Jenner ~ 23G 21A = 44pts
2. #93 Jakub Voracek ~ 3G 40A = 43pts
3. #29 Patrik Laine ~ 22G 20A = 42pts
4. #29 Oliver Bjorkstrand ~ 20G 20A = 40pts
5. #8 Zach Werenski ~ 9G 26A = 35pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #44 Vladislav Gavrikov ~ 42 PIMs
2. #7 Sean Kuraly ~ 39 PIMs
3. #2 Andrew Peeke ~ 36 PIMs
Top Goaltenders:
1. #90 Elvis Merzlikins (19-15-3) 3.47GAA .902SV% 2SO
2. #70 Joonas Korpisalo (6-9-0) 3.95GAA .883SV%
3. # Jean-Francois Berube (6-9-0) 3.95GAA .883SV%
Lines:
Columbus Blue Jackets
Nyquist~Jenner~Laine
Voracek~Roslovic~Bjorkstrand
Domi~Kuraly~Danforth
Chinakhov~Sillinger~Bemstrom
Werenski~Peeke
Gavrikov~Kukan
Carlsson~Bayreuther
Merzlikins
Korpisalo
Berube
Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello
Fiala-Gaudreau-Boldy
Greenway-Eriksson Ek-Foligno
Duhaime-Sturm-Bjugstad
Merrill-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Goligoski-Kulikov
Talbot
Kahkonen
I don’t know about you, but the sense of déjà vu is strong right now. It’s another week, and we have another Thursday-Friday back-to-back game situation. And what’s possibly even more eerie about the situation, is that last week, the Wild won the first game of the series, but then dropped the second game. Last week, the two games were against teams well outside the playoff bubble. First, the Wild beat the Flyers 5-4, but then lost to Buffalo by the reverse score. So here we are with this back-to-back series, and so much feels similar. Last night against the Detroit Red Wings, I can’t say I was exactly pleased with the Wild’s performance last night. In fact, last night was not the kind of performance that a playoff eligible team should be displaying, especially when there’s still quite a few games left to play.
So let’s talk about the biggest concern everyone involved with this team should have. The thing is, we keep having this conversation over and over again, but nothing ever seems to come from it. You get to a point, and you feel like “Why do I keep having to have this discussion? Are you not listening to me?” Right now, I am not comfortable with Minnesota’s team defense, and in fact it seems like it gets worse with each game. While Minnesota seems like they can get the needed goals when pushed, the problem is that they have to score as many goals as they do. And what’s even worse, is that if the slow, tired, and uninspired Minnesota Wild show up, you know there’s a good chance that they won’t be able to score enough.
And when you’re talking about overall team defense, we again have to discuss the penalty kill. Last night, the Wild took seven penalties against the Red Wings. Sure, three of those penalties came after the horn sounded at the end of the second period, but still that’s way too many penalties. In the first period, there where three penalties called, and at one point Minnesota found themselves playing 5-on-3. While the Wild killed the first of Detroit’s 2-man advantage, they failed to kill the second half, with Jakub Vrana scoring. It’s bad enough taking that many penalties against a team like Detroit, but we need to remember that not all teams are Detroit.
Just like Detroit came in ticked off about a huge beatdown in their previous game, the same can be said about tonight’s opponent. Last night, the Columbus Blue Jackets took a jaunt to Long Island. Unfortunately that one-game road trip was ugly, losing 6-0 to the Islanders. Not only was it a 6-0 loss, but Columbus gave up two power play goals and a shorthanded goal. The second period in particular was bad, as they gave up three goals in those twenty minutes alone. It also seems that Joonas Korpisalo was in net for the full game. I suppose when you get to 3-0 or 4-0, and you have a game the next day, you might as well not change the goaltenders mid-game.
So with Korpisalo getting the start and the loss last night, one should expect that the Blue Jackets give Elvis Merzlikins the nod tonight. I think a lot of people within the Blue Jackets organization were hoping that between Merzlikins and Korpisalo, that they’d have a solid goaltending due. However the combination of shaky goaltending and poor team defense has lead this team to being out of the playoff conversation. In fact, I think with the surprising showing by Merlikins last season, everyone thought there would be a different result. However, our expansion brethren are having the same issues with stopping the continual flow of goals. While their goals for per game isn’t too shabby (10th in the NHL), the differential between goals for and goals against simply isn’t working for them.
Like many games this season, I am definitely not looking forward to this one. Last night, there were many times I was tempted to completely tune out. Columbus is a dangerous opponent, but they shouldn’t be a dangerous one. But that should almost be the theme for Minnesota this year. I need to come up with a snarky season motto for this feeling, but I haven’t come up with anything clever yet. Well, there’s still enough of the season for my sarcasm to craft something, so check back soon.
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