Minnesota Wild (22-8-4) 48pts 2nd in the Central
3.06 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
1.94 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
17.7% Power Play (17th in the NHL)
86.1% Penalty Kill (4th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 12G 17A = 29pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 11G 18A = 29pts
3. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 8G 17A = 25pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 9G 13A = 22pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 8G 14A = 22pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 42 PIM’s
2. #63 Kurtis Gabriel ~ 24 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 22 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (18-6-3) 1.58GAA .947%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (4-2-1) 3.11GAA .904%SP
Vs.
New York Islanders (14-14-6) 34pts 7th in the Metropolitan
2.74 Goals For Per Game (12th in the NHL)
3.03 Goals Against Per Game (28th in the NHL)
13.7% Power Play (28th in the NHL)
79.8% Penalty Kill (22nd in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #91 John Tavares ~ 10G 14A = 24pts
2. #12 Josh Bailey ~ 5G 16A = 21pts
3. #29 Brock Nelson ~ 7G 12A = 19pts
4. #27 Anders Lee ~ 13G 4A = 17pts
5. #2 Nick Leddy ~ 4G 10A = 14pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #3 Travis Hamonic ~ 49 PIM’s
2. #44 Calvin de Haan ~ 26 PIM’s
3. #91 John Tavares ~ 22 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #41 Jaroslav Halak (6-8-5) 3.12GAA .907%SP 1SO
2. #1 Thomas Greiss (8-5-0) 2.49GAA .922%SP
Lines:
New York Islanders
Lee~Tavares~Bailey
Prince~Nelson~Beauvillier
Kulemin~R. Strome~Clutterbuck
Ladd~Quine~Chimera
Leddy~Hamonic
Hickey~Boychuk
de Haan~Seidenberg
Halak
Greiss
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Pominville
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Niederreiter~Haula~Coyle
Stewart~Graovac~Schroeder
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Scandella~Folin / Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Every time I write one of these previews, I try to think of a theme. It might be something going on in my personal or work life or something regarding the team. Regardless of what theme I take, whenever I hear the word ‘theme’ itself, I generally think of one thing, and considering we’re in the middle of the Christmas and New Year’s season, it’s going to be appropriate. My favorite Christmas of all time is A Christmas Story. If you a fan of this movie like I am, you know exactly what I’m talking about. There are some days where I feel like Ralphie Parker’s classmates when they’re being charged to write a theme. I generally feel this way when I’m exhausted from work and it feels like the games are pretty much every time I turn around. I really do groan like those school kids. But then there are the days where I feel like Ralphie. He felt his theme on the Red Rider BB-gun would guarantee success in acquiring it for Christmas, as he daydreamed of Miss Shields giving him an A++++++ for his amazing writing prowess. I have those days, where like Ralphie, the words just flow. Other days I struggle and groan like his classmates.
Today, I don’t feel like I have much of a theme, or at least not a personal one. With each win the Minnesota Wild rack up and add to their tally in this franchise-record win-streak, I’m afraid the players will put too much pressure on themselves and the fans will have higher expectations. Although as Minnesotans, we live in a constant land of disappointment when it comes to our sports teams, so we just deal with that disappointment when it comes crashing down upon us. Now let’s go back to the players and pressure. Tuesday night started off great. That first period is the kind of period you should expect from a team that is riding an extended winning streak. The players’ feet were moving. Passes were crisp. I felt good about the game as they headed to the locker room for the first intermission. Although as a Minnesotan, I should have known better. The second period, as well as portions of the third, was a clear of example of how not to play if you plan on keeping that winning streak alive. While Nashville is not having the season they wanted, they’re still not a team you can give room to come back with. In the first period, the Wild had their sticks in the Predators lanes, however that was flipped during the second and much of the third. Heck, I wasn’t feeling too good about overtime when I saw the starting lineup for the extra session. But with each shift, the line combinations actually got better instead of worse. Perhaps that’s Bruce Boudreau’s game plan. Start with the expected but not so great line when other teams start their best and put out the better ones with each successive line change. Other teams are going to their “lesser” lines while ours get better. But that might be a theme for another day.
And like the Predators, the New York Islanders are definitely not having the kind of season they planned on. They’ve dealt with everything from horrid ice, fans calling for coach Jack Capuano fired, the players hating playing at Barclays Center, and an underwhelming season. Playing in the gauntlet of death that is the Metropolitan Division certainly doesn’t help matters either. Where the Central Division used to be the division of doom in seasons past, that torch has been passed to the Metropolitan. It is interesting to note an eerie similarity between the Central and Metropolitan that is happening right now. The Division leaders in both, Chicago and Pittsburgh (respectively) only lead the 2nd place teams by one point. And in both divisions, those second place teams are expansion team brethren Minnesota and Columbus. Want it to get even stranger? Both Minnesota and Columbus are playing teams that are in each other’s conferences (Columbus is taking on Winnipeg tonight). Of course that makes a bit of sense since we’ll see Columbus on Saturday night.
There are a lot of things that Boudreau has finally addressed and solved with the Wild. For the most part, it looks like individual egos are no longer controlling the team. It doesn’t feel like Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, and Ryan Suter are calling their ice time and linemates. When Boudreau shuffles the lines, people seem to come out and play just as hard as when they’re playing with their first choice. That is a major achievement alone. The sulking seems to be gone. And this has paid off. Minnesota is finally a team that doesn’t have to rely on a single line for offense. It’s coming from all corners right now, and that is a sign of a successful team. If you’re depending on one line, you become a team that is very easy to defend. The Wild are a team that can count on a recent callup like Jordan Schroeder to add offense just as much as a veteran like Eric Staal. However, if there’s one thing that Boudreau still needs to figure out, at least on a consistent basis, it’s how to get this team to play sixty minutes of hockey every night. Sure, they’re vastly better than they were under Mike Yeo, but there are still those nights where you’re wondering what is going on. Like Tuesday night, when they started out so well.
Since I’m celebrating Christmas tonight (yes, some of us had to work the holiday), my “What I Want for Christmas” theme is a solid sixty minutes of good hockey. I’d also like to continue this winning streak, because let’s face it, winning is fun. Plus there is that chance that we could even overtake Chicago in the standing tonight, if Nashville plays angry and gets the win. My wish though is that I can award the Wild a grade of A++++++ instead of the disappointing C+ grade Ralphie got on his theme when Miss Shields handed it back. No one wants to see a comment like “You’ll shoot your eye out” written at the top.
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