Minnesota Wild (3-1-1) 7pts 2nd in the Central
3.20 Goals For Per Game (12th in the NHL)
2.60 Goals Against Per Game (8th in the NHL)
10.5% Power Play (26th in the NHL)
94.1% Penalty Kill (4th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 4A = 5pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 2G 2A = 4pts
3. #12 Eric Staal ~ 3G 0A = 3pts
4. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
5. #25 Jonas Brodin ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 19PIMs
2. #5 Christian Folin ~ 8PIMs
3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 6PIMs
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk ~ (2-1-1) 2.52GAA .912SV%
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper ~ (1-0-0) 3.00GAA .900SV%
Vs.
New York Islanders (2-3-0) 4pts 7th in the Metropolitan
2.40 Goals For Per Game (25th in the NHL)
2.80 Goals Against Per Game (13th in the NHL)
7.1% Power Play (29th in the NHL)
94.7% Penalty Kill (2nd in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #29 Brock Nelson ~ 2G 3A = 5pts
2. #15 Cal Clutterbuck ~ 1G 3A = 4pts
3. #55 Johnny Boychuk ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
4. #12 Josh Bailey ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
5. #72 Anthony Beauvillier ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #91 John Tavares ~ 6PIMs
2. #13 Mathew Barzal ~ 6PIMs
3. #44 Calvin de Haan ~ 6PIMs
Top Goaltenders:
1. #41 Jaroslav Halak ~ (2-2-0) 2.77GAA .905SV%
2. #1 Thomas Greiss ~ (0-1-1) 2.06GAA .929SV%
Okay, I’m going to vent, aka whine, for a little bit. I really, really hate the NHL’s stats page since they updated their entire platform a while back. Before the switch, you could pull up a team’s player stats, and select the “player bio” filter, and it would should you the player jersey number. I have tried every filter within the stats area and I can’t find it. I suppose with their addition of the “enhanced” statistics, aka Corsi and Fenwick, they had to eliminate a filter. However those two stats aren’t in the “player bio” area, so I can’t see why that would be a problem. My guess is some statistician or web designer simply forgot. Instead of getting “one-stop shopping” at NHL.com, I’m forced to venture out to team websites to get the info, or even more time consuming, click on each individual player name. I know, I know, #firstworldproblems. But when you’re in a rush (like I am now), it is an inconvenience. Okay, end of this complaint.
So, the big news regarding tonight’s opponent has nothing to do with players, or results, or really anything to do with the Islanders per se. The big news is the ice itself. Ever since the Islanders moved from Uniondale on Long Island to Brooklyn, there have been issues with the quality of ice. Lately, it’s pretty much coming to a head. It’s one thing for opposing players to complain about the quality of ice, especially when they’re playing a team in an area known for lack of real winter weather. But when it’s the home team complaining, you know you have serious issues. I pulled up Larry Brooks’ take in the New York Post. He has a pretty good take on the issues. Former Wild forward, Cal Clutterbuck has publicly stated that Barclay’s has the worst ice he’s ever seen. It seems when they constructed Barclay’s, they put in plastic tubing in the ice-making equipment for the better (and more expensive) metal tubing. This process would need to happen over a summer, in which the arena would be closed (ie no revenue generated). The owner of Barclay’s has pretty much said that won’t be happening. Thankfully, the Islanders do have an escape clause after next season. With that escape clause, many are asking where they will go. Some have mentioned building a hockey arena on the Citi Field parking lot. Of course this would require funding and building a parking ramp at Citi Field to make up for lost parking. My question is this. Why not move back to Long Island. Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is outdated, but at least they had good ice. And like Brooks said, good ice is a requirement, not, a luxury.
Part of me has to wonder if last night we saw a bit of the players again trying to take over the bench and locker room. For long stretches of time (okay, pretty much any time Zach Parise was on the ice), the players were pretty much trying to set him up. Yes, I understand the desire to score a goal on your former team, but in a close game like it was all night, you can’t afford to do that. Personally, I don’t see Bruce Boudreau making that kind of call. Especially when you have a player making his NHL debut on the ice as well as a blue line dealing with injury and illness. You need all players taking offensive chances, not insisting on setting up one player. My hope is that the team got a tongue-lashing for that behavior, because in the long-run it did more harm than good. And heading into less-than-ideal ice conditions tonight, they’re going to need to listen to their coach and do what he says.
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