I don’t think I go out of my way to sing my own praises. Although its tough to contain one’s self when you’re proud of something. I’d say I feel as though I can mark something else off my bucket list by being a part of a real radio program. I’ve called into radio programs before like NHL Live, or WCCO’s Sports Huddle with Sid Hartmann and Dave Mona but like many Minnesota sports fans you ask your question and then hang up and listen to what they have to say hoping that you don’t sound like a complete idiot in the process. On New Year’s Eve I had the opportunity to be a part of Alive & Social Network’s Wild Wednesday‘s a weekly pubcast by Jeff Dubay, Jason McGovern and Hockey Buzz‘s Tony Dean. You can listen to the pubcast here. Not to sound too biased but I think it was solid, honest hockey talk about the current state of the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have more than enough uncomfortable honest discussions around the blogosphere and in the media.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs travel to St. Paul the Wild’s dimming playoff hopes become more and more of a story each and every game. The Maple Leafs understand pressure and failing to live up to expectations perhaps more than any franchise in the National Hockey League. The Wild are in no where near the same amount of pressure from the media and its fanbase as the Leafs do. Like a crucible, teams respond or are destroyed as a result of pressure so will the Wild answer their detractors or will the pressure get a little more intense after tonight?
1st Period Thoughts: The Wild looked amazingly relaxed to start the game, too relaxed and Toronto was dictating the pace early on. The Maple Leafs had the first quality attempt of the game as a long pass found David Clarkson who swung a shot that skittered wide of the net. Toronto’s open style was really inviting an up-tempo game that Wild are not real accustomed to. It took about 3-4 minutes for the Wild to adjust, and then the defense did a nice job of eluding the Toronto forecheck and suddenly it was the Wild going on the attack. It started with the top line of Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Mikko Koivu who took advantage of the loose defensive coverage of the Maple Leafs which they turned into a few shots on goal. On the other end of it, Darcy Kuemper had to be very sharp as the Leafs were doing a good job at funneling pucks on goal. Tyler Bozak would drop a pass back to Phil Kessel who then threaded a diagonal pass towards the Wild’s goal that nearly connected with James van Riemsdyk. At certain points in the period, the Wild appeared to be chasing the Maple Leafs around their own zone and Kuemper had to be sharp as he stonewalled van Riemsdyk on a point-blank range chance and then moments later he denied Jake Gardiner on a nice solo rush of his own. One Wild player who was really showing some jump in his skates was Erik Haula who was using speed effectively to create scoring opportunities and looking far more comfortable than he has in weeks. A late holding penalty to Clarkson gave Minnesota the first power play of the game. On the man advantage the Wild used its veterans first, and the results were predictably dry; with a lone quality chance coming off a redirected Ryan Suter point shot by Zach Parise that Bernier dismissed. As the 2nd unit; made up of mostly youngsters hit the ice the Wild had a number of great chances as they set up Marco Scandella repeatedly for slap shots from the point. Bernier would snag a Scandella slapper to effectively kill off the power play but Minnesota had built up some much-needed momentum. Parise would also be stopped by Bernier late as Minnesota was showing some good urgency late. I thought the Wild did a reasonable job of taking dump ins by the Maple Leafs and exiting their own end, but they had trouble when Toronto was able to work the cycle. The Maple Leafs out shot the Wild 14-10 in this goaltending duel as the game was knotted at 0-0.
2nd Period Thoughts: Minnesota had a great opportunity early as a long stretch pass found Parise for a breakaway but his shot was gloved by Bernier who remained sharp. The Wild kept buzzing early as Tyler Graovac made a nice play to Ryan Carter but he couldn’t pull the trigger but as the sequence continued he’d dish the puck to Jared Spurgeon. Spurgeon would skate into the slot who had an open shot but instead of shooting it he’d attempt one more pass that did not connect with anyone and a potential scoring chance was squandered. A few minutes later the Wild had another great opportunity as Jason Pominville pounced on a puck in the slot that he rang off the right post, but as he tried to track the puck back down Mikko Koivu would get tagged with a holding penalty giving the Maple Leafs its first power play. The Wild’s penalty kill was aggressive and with some smart work by Erik Haula and Matt Cooke worked the puck deep into the Toronto zone that kept the Maple Leafs busy. Toronto would regroup and they’d apparently score as David Clarkson took the puck to the net that was stopped by Kuemper and then collided into the Wild goaltender and Mike Santorelli banged home the rebound. The goal was reviewed and ruled ‘no goal’ due to the collision and Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle went ballistic as he tore into the officials for what he felt was a bad call because Jared Spurgeon’s meek push of Clarkson just prior to his collision with Kuemper. The Wild would escape with a big kill. Minnesota would then find the back of the net as a little tip into the zone by Nino Niederreiter turned into a 2-on-1 for Charlie Coyle and Kyle Brodziak and it was Coyle threading a diagonal feed towards the goal that was directed in off the skate of a stopping Brodziak. 1-0 Wild. Minnesota would follow up the goal with another great chance as Thomas Vanek would dangle around a Toronto defender and then fire a wrist shot that was steered aside by Bernier. The game would slow down a bit as the Maple Leafs tried to get their forecheck going. Minnesota would weather the storm and then counter attack as the top line caused all kinds of trouble for Toronto as Bernier made some great saves. Kuemper would make another superb stop on Santorelli and the Wild would hold their 1-0 going into the 3rd. I really like the way Jonas Brodin is playing to start the Wild’s attack into Warroad’s zone.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Wild had a great opportunity to start the 2nd period as Zach Parise raced in and was hauled down by Dion Phaneuf before he ended up careening into the net. Phaneuf would stand over Parise that angered the Wild alternate captain. Minnesota would go on the penalty kill as Spurgeon slashed the stick of Richard Panik. Minnesota did not help their cause as Ryan Suter sent a puck into the stands giving the Maple Leafs a long 5-on-3. The Maple Leafs would net the equalizer as Cody Franson wired a slap shot by Kuemper. 1-1 game. The Wild still had over a minute of power play time to kill off and Toronto swarmed all over the Wild end, in and around the Minnesota crease but Kuemper was able to hold the fort and Minnesota escaped without further damage. The Wild would take a page out of the Maple Leafs book by activating their defense and Jared Spurgeon had a little time and he’d rifle a slap shot by Bernier to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead. A few minutes later, the Wild would go back on the power play as Panik was called for slashing. Minnesota would take full advantage, as a great cross-ice pass by Vanek was one-timed by Koivu that blazed by Bernier to give the Wild a commanding 3-1 lead. It was a beauty of a play. The Wild’s lead was raising the tempers of the Leafs and Coyle would get into it with van Riemsdyk and they’d both go sit in the box for roughing. Toronto kept pressing as Tyler Bozak would draw a tripping call on Ryan Carter. On the power play there was a scary moment as Bozak ripped a shot that struck James van Riemsdyk in the head and he’d head to the locker room as he was bleeding rather profusely. Minnesota’s penalty killers did a decent job of collapsing down near the crease to deny Toronto the slot. The Wild would will themselves a few clearing attempts but while they did so Phil Kessel was very unhappy after being slashed by Cooke and then leveled by Scandella. He was chewing out the officials and finally said one word too many and he was given a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The Wild didn’t do much with the man advantage as they simply took advantage of the chance to kill time. As the power play expired the Wild just tried to challenge Toronto shooters and work the puck deep. Toronto would pull Bernier with a minute left but to little effect as the team kept the Leafs to the perimeter and they were able to skate away with a 3-1 victory.
Darcy Kuemper was tremendous, making 34 saves in the victory including a number of saves with lots of activity near his crease. He had good support from his defenseman who did a decent job of sweeping away the few rebounds he gave up. Kuemper kept his team in the game early, before the club adjusted to the Maple Leafs terrific team speed. I thought Jonas Brodin had a terrific night defensively, as did Jared Spurgeon who did a great job at moving the puck all night long. The penalty kill did get gashed, but it was on a 5-on-3 so its tough to be too unhappy with that.
Offensively the Wild did a nice job of creating offense from all of its lines. The Wild had 29 shots, but they probably should’ve had 6-7 more if they would’ve to simply pull the trigger when the opportunity presented itself. Luckily the Wild were took the initiative to blast the puck on goal as Spurgeon blasted a slap shot from the faceoff dot that surprised Bernier. Minnesota’s power play had far better puck movement and probably deserved more than one goal this evening, but Koivu’s tally provided that level of insurance late in the game. While I’ve given Thomas Vanek a lot of criticism, his cross-ice feed was an example of some tremendous vision.
This was a huge win for the Wild against a non-Conference opponent where the team simply needed to keep pace by earning a victory. The Wild did it with defense tonight, which is a shift from the way its been playing as of late. One player who I felt really helped out defensively was Erik Haula who was really hustling and he was huge on the penalty kill. As great as this win will feel for Minnesota, but they need to follow it up with another victory against Dallas tomorrow night.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter, Erik Haula, Justin Fontaine, Tyler Graovac, Ryan Carter, Kyle Brodziak, Matt Cooke, Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella, Nate Prosser and Christian Folin. Niklas Backstrom backed up Darcy Kuemper. Stu Bickel, Jason Zucker, and Brett Sutter were the healthy scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Darcy Kuemper, 2nd Star Mikko Koivu, 3rd Star Jared Spurgeon
~ Attendance was 19,168 at Xcel Energy Center.
Wild Prospect Report:
C – Avery Peterson (Nebraska-Omaha, NCHC) ~ The lanky center anchored the Mavericks’ 3rd line, adding an assist in an ugly 6-2 loss to New Hampshire on New Year’s Eve. The freshman has 5 goals, 11 points, 4 PIM’s and is a +1 in 20 games this season.
G – Alexandre Belanger (Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL) ~ The athletic goaltender is finding his form again after stopping 24 shots in the Huskies 5-2 win over Gatineau on New Year’s Eve. The Sherbrooke, Quebec-native has an 11-7 record, a 3.43 goals against average and an .872% save percentage in 23 appearances this season.
C – Adam Gilmour (Boston College, H-East) ~ Boston College had some key guys missing for tonight’s game against Brown as they were attending the World Junior Championships, but the lanky center anchored the 2nd line in the hiatus contributing a goal and an assist in their 4-1 win over the Bears. Gilmour has 3 goals, 13 points, 12 PIM’s and is a +7 in 18 games this season.
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