Minnesota Wild (34-12-5) 73pts 1st in the Central
3.33 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
2.29 Goals Against Per Game (3rd in the NHL)
20.7% Power Play (12th in the NHL)
82.4% Penalty Kill (12th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 15G 33A = 48pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 16G 26A = 42pts
3. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 16G 22A = 38pts
4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 16G 22A = 38pts
5. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 13G 25A = 38pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 58 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 41 PIM’s
3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 26 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (28-9-3) 1.99GAA .932%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (6-3-2) 3.16GAA .907%SP
Vs.
Winnipeg Jets (25-26-4) 54pts 5th in the Central
2.89 Goals For Per Game (9th in the NHL)
3.11 Goals Against Per Game (27th in the NHL)
18.8% Power Play (16th in the NHL)
76.4% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #55 Mark Scheifele ~ 25G 28A = 53pts
2. #27 Nikolaj Ehlers ~ 19G 28A = 47pts
3. #26 Blake Wheeler ~ 16G 30A = 46pts
4. #29 Patrik Laine ~ 23G 20A = 43pts
5. #33 Dustin Byfuglien ~ 7G 27A = 34pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #22 Chris Thorburn ~ 72 PIM’s
2. #33 Dustin Byfuglien ~ 70 PIM’s
3. #8 Jacob Trouba ~ 41 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #37 Connor Hellebuyck (17-13-1) 2.82GAA .908%SP 3SO
2. #34 Michael Hutchinson (4-10-3) 3.23GAA .894%SP 1SO
Lines:
Winnipeg Jets
Ehlers~Little~Laine
Copp-Schiefele~Wheeler
Matthias~Lowry~Armia
Perreault~N. Petan~Thorburn
Morrissey~Byfuglien
Enstrom~Trouba
Stuart~Postma
Hellebuyck
Hutchinson
Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter~Staal~Tuch
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Parise~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Coyle
Suter~Spurgeon
Scandella~Dumba
Prosser~Reilly
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Anyone else feel like they’re living in a bit of a dream world when it comes to the Minnesota Wild? When I’m looking at the stats, I feel like I’m either in an alternate universe or I’m dreaming and someone needs to pinch me. To this day, I still can’t believe the team stats. And by team stats, I’m really talking about the goals for and goals against. I feel like one of these days I’m going to wake up and reality will set in. There are days where I look at the stats and still do a double take when I see that Minnesota has the third best goals for in the league. I get a bit bug-eyed when I look at the company the Wild are in. The only two teams better than the Wild are the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, respectively. And then when I break it down further, there are only two other Western Conference teams in the Top 10 in the league. In ninth place, tonight’s opponent the Winnipeg Jets, and in tenth place the St. Louis Blues. So yes, this feels a bit like a fantasy land.
However, in the fantasy land this season has been there have been some definite reality checks. The two games against the New Jersey Devils and the three game series with the Calgary Flames should serve as gut checks. They were both teams that Minnesota should have won, especially considering the season they’ve been having. Yet at the same time, it’s good to have teams and games like those to prevent this team from getting to complacent, too comfortable, and too big for their britches. We’re used to seeing this team getting too comfortable sometimes even during the course of a game. You know, the dreaded second period. If they can learns the important hockey lessons from those moments of failure, it should hopefully keep them grounded enough and allow them to finish strong at the end of the regular season. While I’m quite content having the Wild sitting in first place in the Central Division and the Western Conference, I’m not sure at this point if they will be in the same position come playoff time. Sure, the Chicago Blackhawks are four points behind, but the Wild still have three games in hand. When those games are played out and Chicago picks up their game, it wouldn’t shock me to see Minnesota in second place. However, I’m not going to complain about that either, because it’s still better than sneaking into the playoffs by snagging a Wild Card spot due to some regulation win tiebreaker.
So I’m sitting here wondering how the Winnipeg Jets can be in ninth place when it comes to goals for and the Wild are in 3rd place. Looking at the Top Five scorers for each team, one would think that team stat should be reversed. However, if you dig further into the individual stats for each team, it becomes obvious. For the Wild, the scoring is coming from all corners. Sure, the Wild are getting scoring from players like Mikael Granlund, Eric Staal, and Mikko Koivu. But these are players you expect to get production for. It’s when you look outside of the Top Five, this is where you see the difference. Minnesota is getting production from Erik Haula (although not too much recently) and Chris Stewart. Heck, even Tyler Graovac is chipping in as well. The Jets aren’t getting the same kind of team contribution outside of their Top Five. It is obvious that the majority of the Jets’ 2.89 goals for per game are coming from the likes of Mark Schiefele and Nikolaj Ehlers. If any of their Top Five was injured for any length of time, they would definitely feel the pain. While I don’t want to test that theory for the Minnesota Wild, based on the fact that the scoring is spread out a bit more, I think they would do a better job of holding their own than the Jets would.
I think tonight will be difficult. First off, playing at MTS Centre is not my idea of a good time. We know all about how loud Jets fans can get both at home and when they flood Xcel Energy Center. Working against the Wild is that the Jets will most likely being playing with a Manitoba sized chip on their shoulders. Their last game was on Saturday in Denver, where they lost 5-2 to the Avalanche. With the kind of season Colorado has had, that’s an embarrassing loss for just about any team, especially one that is technically still in the running for a Wild Card spot. Minnesota should be prepared early on for a Winnipeg team that pushes the flow of the game. They need the win, and we know their Top Five can and will score. If Minnesota can minimize their role as well as play their own game, they should come out victorious. If they allow Winnipeg to dictate this game, we’ll probably see a repeat of the Calgary game.
If this is reality for the Minnesota Wild, great. If this is a dream, please don’t wake me up.
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