Pre-season hockey is sort of like mad-scientist experiment. Coaches put together lineups mixed with NHL veterans, prospects and minor league journeymen. Chemistry is mostly trial-and-error or just pure dumb luck. Beyond the occasional goon wanting to make a name for himself, the scraps are few and the hitting is nominal compared to your average regular season tilt. The hockey is a bit disjointed, but at least the game is being played and the regular season is around the corner. Watching the CBC broadcast of Kraft Hockeyville game played in Sylvan Lake, Alberta it just reminds why the NHL exists. Its all about the fans and hockey. We love our teams, and the offseason is always too long and we can’t wait to have it back on our TV’s and at the top of our minds.
For the players, pre-season is chance to get back into game shape and shake off the last tiny bits of rust from the summer. While its pointless to equate pre-season records and stats with regular season success or struggle fans often fall into that trap. Minnesota played reasonably well on Monday with youth-filled lineup, so can they follow that up with an even better one in Pittsburgh?
1st Period Thoughts: The Wild started slowly with its “A-” team going against the Penguins’ “B” squad. Passing was sloppy and anticipation was lacking as the more aggressive Penguins coaxed a few easy turnovers. Erik Haula was uncharacteristically careless with the puck with a few lazy passes that allowed Pittsburgh to put Minnesota on its heels. Minnesota started to find itself in penalty trouble as Mathew Dumba tripped up Oskar Sundqvist and the Wild would compound its problems with a “too many men” penalty. The Penguins would strike on the man advantage as Brandon Sutter scored on a quick wrist shot that beat Darcy Kuemper. 1-0 Pittsburgh. Minnesota still seemed mostly listless beyond the 2nd line of Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek and Justin Fontaine who were showing some reasonable chemistry together. The Wild had to be disappointed with their opening effort as they were outshot 9 to 5 by considerably inferior opponent. (sigh) Its the pre-season, the pre-season. Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo did not appear to be overly thrilled as the team made its way to the locker room.
2nd Period Thoughts: Minnesota did not waste any time responding after a lousy 1st period; drawing a Penguins’ power play just 14 seconds in as Simon Despres would sit for tripping. Around 15 seconds later on the man advantage, the Wild would tie the game on a pretty pass by Koivu that was tapped home by Vanek. Jeff Zatkoff had no chance at all. After the goal, the sort of sloppy play that typified the 1st period would resume. The Wild had some good chances as Andrew Ebbett was sent to the sin bin for tripping Marco Scandella. Minnesota could not capitalize on the power play as they struggled against a more aggressive Penguins’ penalty kill. The game also started to get a bit chippy as Robert Bortuzzo leveled Jason Zucker with a late hit, which irritated the Las Vegas-native and he challenged Simon Despres to drop the gloves. The 6’5″ defenseman was happy to oblige and it was a one sided fight against the 5’11” winger as Despres’ superior strength and reach was too much for Zucker to handle. The only line of the Wild that seemed to be capable of causing any havoc was the 2nd line of Koivu, Vanek and Fontaine which cycled the puck well in the offensive zone. On the other side of the ice, Darcy Kuemper had to bail out his team with a great save on the Pens’ Beau Bennett. The Wild had a much better period overall, but they still were not generating enough shots to put a lot of pressure on the Penguins’ defense.
3rd Period Thoughts: As expected the Wild swapped out Kuemper for Ilya Bryzgalov. In the 3rd period the Wild sent out its 4th line of Brett Sutter, Cody Almond and Stu Bickel tried to ramp up the intensity by throwing their weight around as they were played rather sparingly in this game. The first few minutes of the 3rd were filled with some brutal hockey of errant passes and no flow whatsoever. Minnesota would eventually break the stalemate as Mikael Granlund carried the puck deep into the Pittsburgh zone as he swung a pass out front that was pounced upon by Zach Parise who got off a quick wrist shot that beat Zatkoff. The 2-1 lead would last just 14 seconds, as the Penguins answered right back as Despres blasted a shot that Bryzgalov struggled with and the rebound was tapped home by Oskar Sundqvist. The Wild would get into some more penalty trouble; and Minnesota got some great penalty killing from Jason Zucker and the game would go to overtime.
Overtime Thoughts: A dry scrape of the ice and overtime would begin. It would’ve been nice if the Wild decided to show up and play as the Penguins outworked, outhustled and appeared to want to win this game a lot more than Minnesota did. After forcing Bryzgalov to make a few saves, the Penguins persistence paid off as Despres again got the Wild goalie to bobble the puck allowing Sutter to score his 2nd goal of the game to seal a 3-2 victory.
I am a both hopeful and disappointed about the outcome. The Wild had some good chemistry from its most skilled players like one would expect, but still it was not enough to get a victory against a Pittsburgh squad that was made mostly of young players, AHL’ers and prospects. Yet, its just the pre-season.
Mike Yeo told the media after the game, “We didn’t shoot the puck quick enough, missed the net a lot, but its something we’ll work on, we’ll get better.” He praised the chemistry of the Wild’s top two lines as well as the play of Mathew Dumba and Christian Folin. Well, hopefully the Wild can earn a victory over Winnipeg on Saturday.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster tonight was as follows: Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula, Justin Fontaine, Jason Zucker, Brett Sutter, Matt Cooke, Cody Almond, Jason Pominville, Christian Folin, Keith Ballard, Stu Bickell, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, and Mathew Dumba. Ilya Bryzgalov shared duties between the pipes with Darcy Kuemper.
~ Attendance tonight was 17,858 at Consol Energy Center.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Brandon Sutter, 2nd Star Beau Bennett, 3rd Star Zach Parise
Wild Prospect Report:
Minnesota added two defenseman on Tuesday as they signed Alex Gudbranson and Eden Prairie’s Hunter Warner. Alex is the younger brother of Florida Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Like his older brother, the 6’2″ blueliner plays a physical, stay-at-home game. The same can be said for Hunter Warner who raised a lot of eyebrows at the Wild’s Prospect Camp this summer where his penchant for his hard hitting style. Gudbranson is going to move onto the pro’s while Warner will likely be playing with the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL.
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