Minnesota Wild (16-8-4) 36pts 2nd in the Central
2.82 Goals For Per Game (10th in the NHL)
1.96 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
15.2% Power Play (23rd in the NHL)
84.7% Penalty Kill (6th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 7G 13A = 20pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 9G 10A = 19pts
3. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 8G 10A = 18pts
4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 6G 12A = 18pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 6G 11A = 17pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 38 PIM’s
2. #63 Kurtis Gabriel ~ 24 PIM’s
3. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 20 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (14-6-3) 1.60GAA .947%SP 4SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-2-1) 3.36GAA .897%SP
Vs.
Nashville Predators (13-11-4) 30pts 4th in the Central
3.00 Goals For Per Game (6th in the NHL)
2.82 Goals Against Per Game (19th in the NHL)
20% Power Play (12th in the NHL)
80.7% Penalty Kill (21st in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #92 Ryan Johansen ~ 6G 14A = 20pts
2. #38 Viktor Arvidsson ~ 9G 10A = 19pts
3. #63 Mike Ribeiro ~ 4G 15A = 19pts
4. #19 James Neal ~ 12G 5A = 17pts
5. #76 P.K. Subban ~ 7G 10A = 17pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #12 Mike Fisher ~ 31 PIM’s
2. #76 P.K. Subban ~ 25 PIM’s
3. #51 Austin Watson ~ 21 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Pekka Rinne (12-7-4) 2.48GAA .918%SP 1SO
2. #39 Marek Mazanec (0-2-0) 4.73GAA .839%SP
Lines:
Nashville Predators
Forsberg~Johansen~Neal
Fiala~Ribeiro~Smith
Wilson~Fisher~Arvidsson
Sissons~Jarnkrok~Watson
Josi~Ellis
Ekholm~Subban
Irwin~Y. Weber
Rinne
Mazanec
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Pominville
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Niederreiter~Haula~Coyle
Stewart~Graovac~Gabriel
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Scandella~Folin
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Hockey, and just about any sport, can be compared to far more elegant endeavors. When people talk about visual art, they talk about the subject, the composition, the colors, the interplay between light and dark, and the flow. If you turn to music, you can take many of those same concepts and add things like dynamics and rhythm. Dance is an art-form that is like a painting set to music. Or music that has come to life. However in every kind of art out there in the world, there are different genres and different interpretations. Rembrandt is very different from Jackson Pollock. Mozart and Alban Berg appear to have very little in common most days. In the world of dance, in particular ballet, some of the big names are Marius Petipa and Sergei Diaghilev and the two couldn’t be more different. Petipa is known for the far more classical ballet interpretations of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker where Diaghilev is associated with Rite of Spring. When art is done well, even controversial ones, you know it. You might not like it, but you can appreciate it. When it’s not done well, you know that as well. Usually, it’s more the amateur variety. We’ve all been to the wedding, where someone has had a bit too much to imbibe, and suddenly they think their Fred Astaire when in reality, they’re more like this:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_DF2Af3LM]
Trust me, the Minnesota Wild have had their “Elaine dance” moments. Where the rhythm of passes are completely off. The chemistry between teammates is absent. And even worse, they think they’re doing just fine and above criticism. Yet everyone outside of the team can see the issues with the performance, much like the people staring at Elaine as well as her friends Jerry and George. The look of horror on people’s faces when she dances is much like how many of us feel when the Wild fall apart. Thankfully, the Wild seem to finally be buying into Bruce Boudreau’s system. As both composer and choreographer he has to draw up the plans and determine the lines in order to get things to work. Sure, they still have their occasional mishaps, but what dancer or musicians is perfect all the time. The important thing is that Boudreau gets perfection from his team more times than not.
For the Nashville Predators, they’re having more of an “Elaine dance” kind of season. When it comes to individual stats, they look much like the Wild. They’re not a high scoring team, but then they never really have been. It’s in those team stats where they don’t compare with the Wild. I think team stats have much to do with the coach. Where Boudreau finally has the team buying in, I don’t know if the Predators have gotten the same kind of results since the departure of Barry Trotz. That’s not to say that Peter Laviolette is a bad coach. No, he’s a good coach. However, he came into a situation where there had been only one coach in the team’s history. There are many players on this team who played under Trotz. It’s going to take some time for the Predators to really be Laviolette’s team, and in the world of professional sports, it’s hard to tell if he will get the time.When things go poorly for a team, it’s usually the coach that goes first. Yet Nashville has proven that they’re not a knee-jerk reaction team, yet they’re at a point in their history where they need to perform at a high level. At the very least, Laviolette is probably glad he’s not the coach of the Florida Panthers, a team that has proven that they won’t even tolerate a .500 team.
With the Wild’s recent success, we now have to see how long it can continue. As I’ve discussed in other previews, I’m just impressed that so far we haven’t seen the “December slump.” The Wild aren’t out of the woods yet when it comes to this month, but starting out strong can make a huge difference. Right now we’re seeing that difference. As we’ve seen in the past, when the Wild are on their game, they’re on their game. They look like a well-oiled machine and make life miserable for their opponents. As long as they don’t fall into their bad habits, we should see more of the same. And instead of the “Elaine dance” we’ll get more Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxPgplMujzQ]
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