Minnesota Wild (19-8-4) 42pts 2nd in the Central
2.90 Goals For Per Game (7th in the NHL)
1.87 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
17.2% Power Play (17th in the NHL)
85.1% Penalty Kill (5th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 10G 15A = 25pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 11G 12A = 23pts
3. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 7G 14A = 21pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 8G 12A = 20pts
5. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 8G 10A = 18pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 40 PIM’s
2. #63 Kurtis Gabriel ~ 24 PIM’s
3. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 20 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (16-6-3) 1.55GAA .948%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (3-2-1) 2.97GAA .907%SP
Vs.
Montreal Canadiens (21-7-4) 46pts 1st in the Atlantic
3.13 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
2.16 Goals Against Per Game (4th in the NHL)
20.2% Power Play (11th in the NHL)
81.2% Penalty Kill (17th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #67 Max Pacioretty ~ 13G 13A = 26pts
2. #27 Alex Galchenyuk ~ 9G 14A = 25pts
3. #47 Alexander Radulov ~ 6G 17A = 23pts
4. #79 Alexei Markov ~ 2G 19A = 21pts
5. #41 Paul Byron ~ 11G 8A = 19pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #65 Andrew Shaw ~ 58 PIM’s
2. #74 Alexei Emelin ~ 39 PIM’s
3. #14 Brendan Gallagher ~ 25 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #31 Carey Price (18-4-2) 1.87GAA .936%SP 2SO
2. #35 Al Montoya (3-3-2) 2.91GAA .905%SP 1SO
Lines:
Montreal Canadiens
Pacioretty~Danault~Radulov
Byron~Mitchell~Gallagher
Lehkonen~Plekanec~Flynn
Carr-McCarron~Terry
Emelin~Weber
Beaulieu~Petry
Barberio~Redmond
Price
Montoya
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Coyle
Niederreiter~Koivu~Granlund
Zucker~Graovac~Pominville
Stewart~Cannone~Gabriel
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Scandella~Folin / Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
For many people, music creates strong reactions. And with those strong reactions often come strong memories. If you’re married, you remember the first song you danced with your husband at your wedding. If you have children, you may remember the song that was playing on the car radio when your brought your son or daughter home for the first time. Most of us think of happy or monumental moments in our lives when it comes to a song. However tragic memories are also triggered by a song. For those of you old enough to remember the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, I get sent back to that moment when ever I hear Take These Broken Wings by Mr. Mister. I was in the fourth grade when it happened. So needless to say I wasn’t listening to the radio during school hours. But when I got home, I went upstairs to my room and turned on the radio. The first song I heard, and the DJ mentioned he chose it on purpose, was that very song I mentioned.
Sometimes though, we think of particular bit of music with upcoming events. Tonight is one of those moments. Whenever the Minnesota Wild head into Montreal, I always feel a distinct feeling of trepidation. With that trepidation come two songs that could be added to this particular soundtrack of doom.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNv5sPu0C1E]
With the newest Star Wars movie in the theaters, this is a piece of music we are hearing all over the place these days, including in hockey arenas. However, the Minnesota Wild are not the Empire. At best, they’re the Rebel Alliance heading into the enemy territory heading into an empire that is really a dynasty. Even in years where Montreal hasn’t been that great, Minnesota has not played well, but this season they’re sitting at the top of their division.
For those of you of more of the classical music persuasion, this is the music I think of:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4IRMYuE1hI]
The first movement of Ludvig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor creates essentially the same sense of dread as John Williams did with his music for Star Wars. Beethoven was a master at using orchestration to create mood. Later nineteenth-century composers would write musical pieces called tone or symphonic poems, but Beethoven was doing it in the early nineteenth-century. His music told a story without it really being the intent. And the opening strains of this masterwork stir those feelings of trepidation as we head into Montreal.
With the exception of Minnesota’s abysmal power play, they really should have no reason to play the head game they do when they go to Bell Centre. The Wild’s top point scorer, Eric Staal has 25 points. Montreal’s top point scorer, Max Pacioretty, has 26 points. Heck, within the respective top five scorers for each team, they’re almost point for point. And even when it comes to the power play, the two teams aren’t that far apart. Montreal has the 11th best in the league where Minnesota’s is in 17th place. I still shake my head at that particular feat, because either our power play isn’t as bad as it feels, or the thirteen teams in places 18-30 are just that much worse. With Minnesota’s fifth place penalty kill, the Wild should be able to stop the power play the Canadiens send at them. However, this is Montreal we’re talking about, so it’s hard to say what shows up. With the Wild in possession of the best goals against per game in the league, it should help matters when it comes playing in Montreal.
But the main story tonight, is going to come between the pipes. The true battle will be Devan Dubnyk versus Carey Price. Let’s look at Dubnyk first. He’s top of the league when it comes to save percentage (.948), goals against average (1.55), and shutouts (5). The only goaltending stat of the big four for goaltenders he doesn’t lead, is for wins, which belongs to Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovsky, who has 19 wins. Dubnyk still is in the top five in the league with 16 wins. For Price, he’s in third place for both goals against average (1.87) and save percentage (.936). He sits in second place for wins (18), but in eighth place for shutouts (2). Based on these respective stats, this is going to be where the real battle happens. Sure, it’s goals that ultimately win the game, but tonight it’s going to be the goaltenders who decide how many goals are scored in the end. If the Wild hope to come out victorious tonight, it will be because both their league best goaltender is paired with the league’s best team defense. Oh, and hopefully a few of the Wild’s goal scorers come to play as well.
For one of tonight’s teams, there’s going to be a loss. When I think of losing, I again turn back to Beethoven. This time his Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, in particular the 2nd movement. In the music world, we know it as the funeral march. For some background as to why there’s a funeral march in a symphony, one has to look to European history. When Beethoven started writing this, it was in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte who Beethoven had admired. When it became clearer the tyrant he was becoming, Beethoven renamed it “Eroica” in honor of those fighting again Napoleon. The funeral march would be for those who died in the fight against Napoleon as well as the death of Beethoven’s admiration. All I ask is that for once Minnesota fans aren’t the ones having to attend the funeral.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtqbgN-FL70]
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