Minnesota Wild (15-8-4) 34pts 3rd in the Central
2.74 Goals For Per Game (10th in the NHL)
2.00 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
15.4% Power Play (22nd in the NHL)
83.8% Penalty Kill (10th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 6G 13A = 19pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 9G 9A = 18pts
3. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 8G 9A = 17pts
4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 6G 11A = 17pts
5. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 13A = 17pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 33 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 20 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 18 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (13-6-3) 1.63GAA .946%SP 4SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-2-1) 3.36GAA .897%SP
Vs.
Florida Panthers (13-12-4) 30pts 5th in the Atlantic
2.34 Goals For Per Game (23rd in the NHL)
2.59 Goals Against Per Game (12th in the NHL)
13.3% Power Play (29th in the NHL)
84.6% Penalty Kill (8th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #16 Alexander Barkov ~ 6G 14A = 20pts
2. #81 Jonathan Marchessault ~ 10G 9A = 19pts
3. #21 Vincent Trocheck ~ 7G 8A = 15pts
4. #68 Jaromir Jagr ~ 6G 9A = 15pts
5. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 1G 12A = 13pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #5 Aaron Ekblad ~ 26 PIM’s
2. #38 Shane Harper ~ 18 PIM’s
3. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 18 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #1 Roberto Luongo (10-8-2) 2.24GAA .924%SP
2. #34 James Reimer (3-4-2) 3.02GAA .894%SP
Lines:
Florida Panthers
Griffith~Barkov~Jagr
Jokinen~Trocheck~Smith
Rau-Bjugstad~Sceviour
Thompson~MacKenzie~S. Thornton
Yandle~Demers
Kindl~Ekblad
Pysyk~Matheson
Luongo
Reimer
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Pominville
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Niederreiter~Haula~Coyle
Stewart~Graovac~Gabriel
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Scandella~Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Quatre. Cuatro. Vier. Fire. Neljä. Erba. Four.
It’s not normally a number that hockey fans really think of. At least not until the playoffs. However right now for Wild fans, it’s a fairly impressive number. In the first five games in the month of December, Minnesota has won four of them. Even more impressive, is that those four wins are consecutive ones. It’s not every day that this team can string together four wins in a row. Especially not in the month of December. I want to hold out hope that this might be the new and improved Wild (at least for this particular month), but I’m going to hold back. There still are some issues that have me concerned that they haven’t fully changed their ways. Including tonight’s game, there are nine games remaining this month. Of those nine, seven should be winnable. The hardest two, will be the back-to-back pair next week against the Canadiens and Rangers, two teams leading their respective divisions. However, as we all know, the games that should be easily won, are the games that end up being the most disappointing. How the Wild handle these next nine games, will ultimately determine whether this month is a success or a failure.
The Florida Panthers have their own set of unique numbers. Tonight marks the eighth game for the Panthers under their new coach Tom Rowe. After the pre-season and twenty-two games of the regular season, Florida fired former head coach Gerard Gallant. Many people around the league feel that Gallant was let go all because of the dreaded analytics. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, rent yourself the movie Money Ball. Sure that was about Major League Baseball, but more and more sports, leagues, and teams are focusing more and more on very specific statistics. For hockey, we hear nothing but Corsi and Fenwick. I’ve heard those numbers touted as to why I shouldn’t be so hard on Mikko Koivu. To the hockey analytics people, they love his possession stats and somehow that makes him a great player. Perhaps I’m more old-school, but to me what makes a great plays is goals. You know, the things that usually win games. Perhaps the writing should have been on the wall earlier for Gallant, as this past summer, the organization did a major facelift of its front office, with a move to a more analytics driven focus. Considering their success last season, one has to wonder why they made the change. It didn’t matter that they came off a playoff appearance last season. Or that Gallant was nominated for the Jack Adams Award last season. Or that at the time of his firing, the Panthers were 11-10-1, when they’ve been battling some key injuries. Gallant and his team just weren’t producing according to the analytics set. And that my friends is what (unfairly) sent Gallant packing. He hadn’t lost the locker room like Mike Yeo did last season in the Wild locker room. The number-crunching, bean-counters in the Panthers’ front office just didn’t think the numbers added up.
I don’t often let the Wild’s number bother me. Well, I do get concerned about the over team record. Those are numbers worth getting worried about. Right now, I’m content about those numbers for Minnesota. The one number that most Wild fans concerned is the power play. We continue to watch a power play that under produces. The thing is, we have players who should be able to produce. I still firmly believe that Bruce Boudreau hasn’t discovered the right combinations on the power play. Well either that or there are still players that dictating their role and ice time during the man advantage. I bring that up, because every game I shake my head at the amount of ice time granted to Zach Parise during the power play. Not only has he been highly ineffective on the power play, but he’s been the same way even strength. Heck, if you scroll back up to the top and take a gander of the standings, you’ll notice his glaringly missing from the top five scorers on this team. Considering what he’s paid, he better be there, but he’s not. Nor is Koivu. Yet for Wild forwards, they are in the top five for ice time. Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle, and Mikael Granlund are also in that top five for ice time among Wild forwards, yet they’re in the top five for scoring. They also get paid less than Koivu and Parise. If there’s one place where the Wild could use a little bit of analytics, it’s here. I wish someone would finally sit down and look at the time on ice and compare it with production. If the powers that be would do that, we finally might see some significant changes in who plays when.
Until the important numbers are addressed, we’re going to have to hope and pray that four becomes five.
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