Minnesota Wild (33-19-3) 69pts 3rd in the Central
3.71 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
3.20 Goals Against Per Game (22nd in the NHL)
19.8% Power Play (18th in the NHL)
76.2% Penalty Kill (23rd in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 28G 43A = 71pts
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 17G 40A = 57pts
3. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 20G 31A = 20G 31A = 51 pts
4. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 23G 18A = 41pts
5. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 19G 12A = 31pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 93 PIMs
2. #21 Brandon Dumaime ~ 75 PIMs
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 61 PIMs
Top Goaltenders:
1. #33 Cam Talbot (21-12-1) 2.95GAA .908SV% 1SO
2. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (12-7-2) 2.86GAA .912SV%
Vs.
Detroit Red Wings (24-27-6) 64pts 5th in the Atlantic
2.84 Goals For Per Game (23rd in the NHL)
3.70 Goals Against Per Game (31st in the NHL)
17.3% Power Play (27th in the NHL)
74.0% Penalty Kill (28th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #71 Dylan Larkin ~ 27G 30A = 57pts
2. #59 Tyler Bertuzzi ~ 24G 24A = 48pts
3. #23 Lucas Raymond ~ 16G 27A = 43pts
4. #53 Moritz Seider ~ 5G 36A = 41pts
5. #14 Robby Fabbri ~ 17G 13A = 30pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #59 Tyler Bertuzzi ~ 39 PIMs
2. #71 Dylan Larkin ~ 37 PIMs
3. #14 Robby Fabbri ~ 35 PIMs
Top Goaltenders:
1. #39 Alex Nedejkovic (15-17-5) 3.19GAA .901SV% 1SO
2. #29 Thomas Greiss (8-9-1) 3.65GAA .888SV%
Lines:
Detroit Red Wings
Namestnikov~Larkin~Raymond
Fabbri~P. Suter~T.Bertuzzi
Rasmussen~Veleno~Zadina
Erne~Rowney~Gagner
Leddy~Seider
Oesterle~Hronek
M. Staal~Stecher
Nedejkovic
Greiss
Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello
Fiala-Gaudreau-Boldy
Greenway-Eriksson Ek-Foligno
Dumaime-Sturm-Bjugstad
Merrill-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Goligoski-Kulikov
Talbot
Kahkonen
While it felt good to get back into the win column against the New York Rangers, I’m not sure I feel comfortable with tonight’s opponent. As the Wild have shown this season, they cannot be trusted against a lesser opponent. If you have somehow forgotten, please refresh your memory with the result of the game in Ottawa. I know many of us would rather forget that, but it simply cannot be ignored or forgotten. I’m sure there’s someone out there that would love to remind me of injuries to the roster, but I would simply respond that there were injuries in January and February as well, and they played much better. All things considered, playing Detroit when things don’t feel very solid, is not my idea of a good time.
Since hockey, and every sport, is a numbers game, once again let’s look at some numbers. Firstly, we need to start with Detroit’s recent record. While we were battling things with the Rangers, the Red Wings were taking on Arizona. I think most teams in the league, especially the beleaguered ones, look forward to playing the Coyotes. As one would expect, they’re in last place in the Central Division and just one spot ahead of Montreal for worst in the league. However, the Coyotes currently have a 3-game winning streak and are 6-4-0 in their last ten games. When they were in Detroit on Tuesday, they did an epic beatdown of the Red Wings to the tune of 9-2. That now leaves Detroit with a 3-game losing streak, and perhaps an axe to grind.
Secondly, while their team stats are horrendous, individually, they’re skaters are doing okay. Well at least their Top 5 Scorers. If the Red Wings could figure out how to give their goaltenders a little more breathing room, both defensively and offensively, I think Detroit would be talking a different strategy. When you look at scorers #4 (Moritz Seider) and #5 (Robby Fabbri), they are that much different than Minnesota’s in the same positions. And when comparing goals scored by the top three on both teams, Detroit actually has two more goals than Minnesota. The separation comes in that Seider’s points are mostly assists by a considerable margin, which then catapults the Wild ahead when it comes to goals scored.
Continuing the conversation when it comes to goal scoring, I think we also need to look outside of the Top 5. Outside of the Top 5, Minnesota only has one player, Joel Eriksson Ek, with more than ten goals with 17 of his own. But while that might look bleak, there are three other players that are close to ten goals: Frederick Gaudreau (8), Matt Boldy (9), and Nico Sturm (9). Strangely enough, Detroit has two players outside of the Top 5 with ten or more goals: Vladislav Namestnikov (13) and Pius Suter (11). And getting close to ten goals, they have Sam Gagner (6), Micahel Rasmussen (8) and Filip Zadina (7). I think if some of these other players for Detroit could find more offense, Detroit might see a slight change in fortunes.
Thirdly, and I’m going to feel like a broken record, but time spent in the penalty box is clearly effecting both teams. I don’t know about you, but I am not surprised to see that Minnesota has the 6th most penalty minutes in the league. Honestly, I’m surprised we’re not even higher. Currently, Minnesota has racked up 581 penalty minutes. But if we compare that with Detroit, they’re only slightly better in 13th place with 513 penalty minutes. Really, the only two teams with high penalty minutes with successful penalty kills are Anaheim and Boston, and possibly Florida. The moral of that story, is stay out of the penalty box. Neither the Wild or Red Wings are doing themselves any favors by their continual marches to the box.
While I’d like to be the optimist heading into tonight’s tilt, I just don’t know how successful I will be. During Tuesday’s game, it took a while for me to feel comfortable with how things were going. Just because Minnesota scored the first goal, I wasn’t about to start celebrating any time soon. Please remember, that the Wild also scored first in the game against Dallas. I don’t know about you, but if things go south, or we don’t see a lot of effort from the Wild, I think we may switch over to the Boys’ State High School Hockey Tournament. At least there, we’re pretty much guaranteed quality hockey. But with an unsteady Wild against a floundering Red Wings, who the heck knows what we’ll see. But even if victory is the ultimate outcome, I doubt I’ll still be overly excited.
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