Minnesota Wild (14-8-4) 32pts 3rd in the Central
2.73 Goals For Per Game (10th in the NHL)
2.04 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL)
16% Power Play (21st in the NHL)
83.1% Penalty Kill (11th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 9G 9A = 18pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 6G 12A = 18pts
3. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 7G 9A = 16pts
4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 5G 11A = 16pts
5. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 12A = 16pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 33 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 20 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 18 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (12-6-3) 1.66GAA .946%SP 4SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-2-1) 3.36GAA .897%SP
Vs.
St. Louis Blues (16-8-4) 36pts 2nd in the Central
2.75 Goals For Per Game (9th in the NHL)
2.68 Goals Against Per Game (15th in the NHL)
21.6% Power Play (7th in the NHL)
87.4% Penalty Kill (2nd in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #91 Vladimir Tarasenko ~ 13G 18A = 31pts
2. #22 Kevin Shattenkirk ~ 6G 13A = 19pts
3. #17 Jaden Schwartz ~ 11G 7A = 18pts
4. #15 Robby Fabbri ~ 8G 8A = 16pts
5. #57 David Perron ~ 7G 9A = 16pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #20 Alex Steen ~ 29 PIM’s
2. #22 Kevin Shattenkirk ~ 23 PIM’s
3. #26 Paul Stastny ~ 22 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #34 Jake Allen (14-4-3) 2.40GAA .909%SP 1SO
2. #40 Carter Hutton (2-4-1) 2.98GAA .888%SP
Lines:
St. Louis Blues
Schwartz~Stastny~Steen
Fabbri~Lehtera~Tarasenko
Jaskin~Berglund~Perron
Upshall~Brodziak~Reaves
Bouwmeester~Pietrangelo
Gunnarsson~Shattenkirk
Edmundson~Parayko
Allen
Hutton
Minnesota Wild
Parise~Staal~Coyle
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Niederreiter~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Gabriel
Suter~Spurgeon
Brodin~Dumba
Scandella~Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Its game day, between the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues who are two clubs who have steadily built up a rivalry. Former Blues on one side like Chris Stewart now playing well for the Minnesota while the St. Louis has a few Wild transplants of their own in Kyle Brodziak as well as coaches Mike Yeo and Rick Wilson. Speaking of Yeo, he and his family still reside in Minnesota in Woodbury while his son Kyler wraps up his senior year at Hill-Murray High School. He offered his perspective to Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Wild beat writer Michael Russo.
I am sure Yeo relished the wins the Blues had against the Wild earlier in the season, but its time for Minnesota to give the Blues a proper homecoming of sorts. The team is mostly healthy (knock on wood) and the Wild are feeling confident. The Blues have been rolling as of late so it should make for a very spirited game which is what we’ve come to expect when these two clubs clash. St. Louis has tried to impose its physical will against the Wild, and Minnesota has had recent success using a group that features a bit more toughness with Stewart and youngster Kurtis Gabriel in the lineup. Gabriel has been dressed in the past for games against the Blues and it hasn’t mattered, but he was never as comfortable as he is now so will he be an x-factor?
However this tweet by Michael Russo probably really identifies what matters the most in regards to who is going to come out on top this early evening. Its all about how well Devan Dubnyk or Jake Allen play. Both goaltenders are playing some of their best hockey.
[protected-iframe id=”25a4bb40c9e434693da52493a6268c29-114320562-107882219″ info=”hash” class=”twitter-tweet”]Up front it will be the Blues who will hope to solve Dubnyk with its top end group which includes Russian sniper Vladimir Tarasenko along with youngsters Robby Fabbri and Wild killer Jaden Schwartz who has been on fire as of late. Alex Steen has had a slow start this season, but he is another player who seems to raise his game against Minnesota.
Minnesota is more of a scoring by committee team and theoretically that should make them tougher to defend. Eric Staal, Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker has been playing well as of late. My only worry is the team will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to feed the puck to Zach Parise as the team tries to help him out of his scoring drought. Parise seems to be feeling the pressure, but the team would be best served letting him figure out his issue as opposed to re-arranging its lines and give him more opportunities than he deserves. The fact Parise was receiving prime ice time against the Oilers made one wonder if that was due to lobbying by the alternate captain (a practice we know happened in the days with Yeo as bench boss) or whether it was a mandate from the front office. Either way, I have a bad feeling we’ll see Parise get an inordinate amount of (undeserved) chances again.
The Wild’s 4th line should get some looks too; after a strong effort against the Oilers. Stewart, Gabriel and Tyler Graovac have been bringing speed as well as hits and that should be helpful to put the Blues defense on their heels. Graovac has been especially noticeable as he seems to use his size and skill to create few quality scoring chances per game and its about time he gets rewarded for his effort.
So what are the keys to today’s game?
- Shutdown Tarasenko – The Blues are a team where the majority of its scoring comes from its top two lines. Mikko Koivu has done a great job of shutting down top level forwards like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews and no doubt they’ll be tasked with that today.
- Crash the net – The Blues defenseman are chippy and normally that means the Wild avoid going too close to the crease. That only makes Jake Allen’s job easier. The Wild need to crash the net and give Allen some traffic to work against. Minnesota needs to think they own the Blues crease.
- Play fast – Player for player the Wild do not match up physically against the Blues, but one way to offset that difference is to play fast. Minnesota must keep moving and put the bigger slower Blues defenseman on their heels and allow the Wild to dictate the tempo of the game.
A win today won’t result in the Wild leapfrogging the Blues in the standings, but it will be a big step towards proving they can contend against the top teams in the Central Division and the Western Conference in general.
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