Minnesota Wild (19-10-2) 40pts 2nd in the Northwest
2.68 Goals For (15th)
2.39 Goals Against (6th)
18.5% Power Play (13th)
85.6% Penalty Kill (6th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 8G 20A = 28pts
2. #11 Zach Parise ~ 14G 13A = 27pts
3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 2G 24A = 26pts
4. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 5G 17A = 22pts
5. #10 Devin Setoguchi ~ 11G 10A = 21pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 77 PIM's
2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 55 PIM's
3. #44 Justin Falk ~ 24 PIM's
Top Goaltender(s):
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (17-7-2) 2.30GAA .918%SP 1 SO
2. #37 Josh Harding (1-1-0) 2.92GAA .885%SP 1 SO
3. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-2-0) 2.22GAA .924%SP
Vs.
Phoenix Coyotes (13-15-4) 30pts 5th in the Pacific
2.47 Goals For (23rd)
2.72 Goals Against (16th)
15.5% Power Play (22nd)
82% Penalty Kill (13th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #89 Mikkel Boedker ~ 6G 13A = 19pts
2. #23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson ~ 3G 16A = 19pts
3. #19 Shane Doan ~ 11G 7A = 18pts
4. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 5G 12A = 17pts
5. #50 Antoine Vermette ~ 7G 7A = 14pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #24 Kyle Chipchura ~ 43 PIM's
2. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 34 PIM's
3. #53 Derek Morris ~ 30 PIM's
Top Goaltender(s):
1. #41 Mike Smith (11-10-3) 2.83GAA .901%SP 4 SO
2. #1 Jason LaBarbera (1-5-0) 2.35GAA .923%SP
3. #31 Chad Johnson (1-0-1) .98GAA .952%SP 1 SO
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I really, really dislike start times that are anything other than 7:00pm Central Time. Yes, when the Minnesota Wild travel outside of the Central Time Zone, I realize that a different game time cannot be helped. It's a fact of life. But on top of that, I hate when some arenas, especially those on the West Coast, start their games on the half hour. So that 7:30 start time in Los Angeles becomes 9:30 for me back in the Midwest. As if a 9:00pm start time wasn't bad enough on a work or school night, that extra half hour makes it even worse. However, there is one thing I hate even more. I hate when my start time is moved because of NBC Sports Channel and their broadcast rights on Wednesday nights. If I'm reading what Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune said, it's that NBC has broadcast rights to a 2 hour window. Tonight, they're in Boston to cover the Canadiens at Bruins game. Because of that, no other team can broadcast games within their time. So if the Minnesota Wild wanted to broadcast their game on Fox Sports North, they had to wait until 8:00pm. So now, instead of the game getting over around 9:30pm, it will be more like 10:30pm. And that's if there's no overtime or shootout. Lucky us.
But that's not today's only pet peeve. Case in point, the current issue of The Hockey News. I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of Ken Campbell. He often comes off as whiney (yes, I will note the irony as that's what I'm essentially doing today). And his "Inside Hockey" feature this issue is no different. Once he shows his Eastern Time Zone bias. He writes about just how horrible things are this season for the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets having to play in the Western Conference while in the Eastern Time Zone. First off, Ken neglects to mention that the Central Division, of which both teams are members, involve only two time zones and that the teams are relatively close when it comes to miles traveled. Campbell focuses only on those two teams. However, if he would get past his Eastern tinted glasses and bother to look west of the Mississippi River for once, he would realize that there are teams that are far worse off when it comes to times zones and miles traveled. Case in point, the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are logging a league-high 31,345 miles, that's almost another 4,000 miles than Detroit. Our division games involve not the paltry two time zones they have, but three. And I bet if you compared miles traveled within the respective divisions, the Northwest Division would beat the Central hands down. To add insult to injury, Campbell talks about how hard it is for the fans of those two teams to stay up that late. Hey Ken, where's your sympathy for Minnesota and Dallas fans? Yes, I know that's rhetorical as Ken can't be bothered to look any further west than Chicago.
Okay, I'm done complaing. Well at least for now. The only thing that will put me in a better frame of mind is if the Wild are able to make tonight seven wins in a row. I'll admit, I'm feeling that we're hitting that point where things will start to turn south for us. Add that gut feeling to the fact that there are players on the Coyotes that always seem to find ways to score on us or simply are able to keep our goal scorers off the boxscore. That is not a good combo. Plus, there are many of us that are starting to wonder how much longer Niklas Backstrom can continue to play as he has. Even in the games where we looks really on top of his games, he still has those moments where you wonder "what the heck is he thinking." The random strolls behind the net or toward the faceoff circle combined with some crazy rebounds make fans nervous. There are often nights, where fans wish they could tie Backstrom to the pipes so that he can't wander to far away. Bungee cords would be about right.
I feel like I need to end this on a positive. If there's one positive thing that comes about from tonight's late start, is that I don't feel like I have to rush through cooking and eating dinner. There, positive. And that's as positive as it's going to get.
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