Game Preview: Minnesota Wild vs. Philadelphia Flyers 3/23/17 @ 7:00PM CST at Xcel Energy Center

Minnesota Wild (44-22-6)  94pts  2nd in the Central

3.22 Goals For Per Game (2nd in the NHL)

2.47 Goals Against Per Game (7th in the NHL)

21.3% Power Play (9th in the NHL)

83.8% Penalty Kill (7th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 25G 41A = 66pts

2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 24G 31A = 55pts

3. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 18G 35A = 53pts

4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 20G 29A = 49pts

5. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 17G 32A = 49pts

Top 3 PIM’s:

1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 89 PIM’s

2. #21 Ryan White ~ 77 PIM’s

3. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 57 PIM’s

Top Goaltenders:

1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (37-18-3)  2.17GAA  .927%SP  5SO

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (7-4-3)  3.21GAA  .904%SP

Vs.

Philadelphia Flyers (33-31-8)  74pts  7th in the Metropolitan

2.53 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL)

2.94 Goals Against Per Game (24th in the NHL)

19.6% Power Play (13th in the NHL)

79.3% Penalty Kill (22nd in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #93 Jakub Voracek ~ 17G 38A = 55pts

2. #28 Claude Giroux ~ 14G 39A = 53pts

3. #17 Wayne Simmonds ~ 29G 19A = 48pts

4. #10 Brayden Schenn ~ 22G 25A = 47pts

5. #53 Shane Gostisbehere ~ 6G 25A = 31pts

Top 3 PIM’s:

1. #17 Wayne Simmonds ~ 94 PIM’s

2. #3 Radko Gudas ~ 73 PIM’s

3. #23 Brandon Manning ~ 58 PIM’s

Top Goaltenders:

1. #35 Steve Mason (21-21-7)  2.77GAA  .905%SP  3SO

2. #30 Michael Neuwirth (10-10-1)  2.91GAA  .887%SP

Lines:

Philadelphia Flyers

Weal~Giroux~Simmonds

Konecny~Filppula~Voracek

Br. Schenn~Couturier~Read

VandeVelde~Bellemare~Lyubinov

Provorov~MacDonald

Del Zotto~Gudas

Schultz~Gostisbehere

Mason

Neuvirth

Minnesota Wild

Zucker~Koivu~Granlund

Parise~Staal~Coyle

Niederreiter~Hanzal~Pominville

Stewart~Haula~Schroeder

Suter~Spurgeon

Scandella~Dumba

Brodin~Olofsson

Dubnyk

Kuemper

If you read Tuesday’s game preview, you know I went for a Gen X music theme to describe the then current state of the Minnesota Wild. Beck’s “Loser” and Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” pretty much summed up how many fans were feeling. Looking back at the music of the 90s, especially the grunge and alternative music of that era, it was fairly angst ridden. It wasn’t the upbeat perkiness of the 80s or the bubblegum sweetness of Brittney Spears that was to come. Since we were all feeling a bit depressed over the five-game losing streak, the musical choices were appropriate. Well, we’re going to hop aboard the wayback machine yet again. Today, we’re heading to 1988 and George Michael. Because with Tuesday’s victory, the monkey on the back has been ditched.

With each game and each loss, the cute little monkey was starting to feel more like an African lowlands gorilla. It was getting bigger and heavier as the days passed. In fact, I dreaded each game day. I was also getting harder to write about the Wild. As fans, we saw the problems. We know Bruce Boudreau was seeing the problems. And all you wanted to do was to shake this team and scream at them, asking them why they couldn’t see their mistakes. Of course one of the problems this team has faced is one not of their own making. The schedule has not worked in their favor. Every team is feeling a bit crunched. However pretty much every hockey expert out there has mentioned that the Wild have one of the worst schedules for the last month or so of the regular season. They are one of the teams with the most back-to-back games. They get no more than one night off. The fact alone means that there’s no time for a real practice session. They get their morning skates on game days, but that’s about it. It’s hard to address problems, when there’s very little time to do so. While they lost the game, I’m beginning to think the Wild’s march back to the win column started in the second half of the Jets game. Whatever they figured out for themselves, started in that game and continued into the Sharks game.

Yet, that win against San Jose was but one win. Now, they have to figure out how to keep the winning ways going forward. While it’s improbable that the Philadelphia Flyers will make the playoffs, it’s not impossible. They’re currently eight points out of a wild card spot. That’s a significant deficit and they would have to leapfrog the four teams in front of them. I should point out that they don’t have any games in hand on the teams ahead of them. Since their playoff chances are very, very slim, they’ll most likely take on the role of spoiler. The Wild have yet to clinch a playoff spot, in fact only one Western Conference team has done so at this point. Yet based on the math, a subject I seriously detest, a win tonight or a regulation loss by the Los Angeles Kings, will clinch a playoff spot for Minnesota. It seems that even an overtime or shootout loss by either the Wild or Kings will somehow get Minnesota into the playoffs. That last scenario there takes me back to my algebra days, where trying to figure out some abstract value of x is beyond frustrating. Like fans have been screaming for over the past few seasons, we want to go into the playoffs with wins and on their own merit. For much of the season, we thought that was going to be what happens. However that five-game losing streak was starting to feel like shades of the past. I expect Philadelphia to come out strong, as they often do against Minnesota. It could be ugly, I just hope no one gets injured.

Here’s to hoping that the monkey has been ditched for good. Because this team cannot afford to head into the playoffs with the proverbial monkey on their back. This team for whatever perverse reason love to weigh themselves down with unneeded strife. And speaking of getting weighed down with extra problems, we’re going to re-board the wayback machine, albeit this time we’re going back in time even further. Time for the classic Tennessee Ernie Ford.