Minnesota Wild (2-2)
2.25 Goals For (14th)
2.50 Goals Against (4th)
16.7% Power Play (9th)
93.3% Penalty Kill (1st)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 0G 5A = 5pts
2. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 3G 0A = 3pts
3. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 0G 3A = 3pts
4. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
5. #6 Marco Scandella ~ 1G 1A = 2pt
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #8 Cody McCormick ~ 14 PIM’s
2. #24 Matt Cooke ~ 6 PIM’s
3. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 6 PIM’s
Top Goaltender:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-0) 0.40GAA .979SV%
2. #30 Ilya Bryzgalov (0-2) 4.85GAA .822SV%
Vs.
Colorado Avalanche (2-2)
2.50 Goals For (11th)
2.25 Goals Against (3rd)
6.7% Power Play (16th)
83.3% Penalty Kill (8th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #26 Paul Stastny ~ 3G 4A = 7pts
2. #29 Nathan MacKinnon ~ 1G 6A = 7pts
3. #92 Gabriel Landeskog ~ 3G 0A = 3pts
4. #90 Ryan O’Reilly ~ 2G 1A = 3pts
5. #11 Jamie McGinn ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #55 Cody McLeod ~ 12 PIM’s
2. #8 Jan Hejda ~ 6 PIM’s
3. #2 Nick Holden ~ 4 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #1 Semyon Varlamov (2-2) 2.19GAA .937SV%
I firmly believe that tonight is the night when we really find out what the Minnesota Wild are made of when it comes to their playoff chances. The first two games of this series when we lost both games in Colorado weren’t completely bad. The Wild played well for the most part, but had some unlucky bounces against them and fell into the trap of relaxing in the third period (Game 1). Yet even though we ended up on the losing end of the first two games, we learned some valuable lessons. Those lessons were put to good use in the past two games. Minnesota came out with grit and determination, and it paid off. The Avalanche almost stood no chance against an extremely determined Wild. Had it not been for Semyon Varlamov, both games would have been absolute blowouts. And of course, the Wild had the ruckus of the fans at Xcel Energy Center behind them, powering them on. Of course, that won’t be the case tonight.
So I have to do it. We need to talk about revenge. There’s a video clip from Game 4 that has come to light, yet no one is talking about it. Everyone around the league was in a rabid, foaming at the mouth, tizzy over the knee by Matt Cooke on Tyson Barrie. Wild fans don’t argue it was a dirty hit. What we do argue is the blatant inconsistency of the officiating in this series. There were those that wanted Cooke banned from the league. To those people, I have two words for you: Todd Bertuzzi. But, I digress. A video has come out from Game 4 that clearly shows a blatant kneeing attempt by a Colorado player on a young Wild defensemen. Sorry, it cannot be mere coincidence that Jared Spurgeon was targeted. Spurgeon plays very much the same role as Barrie does for Colorado. Would you like to see the blatant knee thrown by Patrick Bordeleau, a knee that was completely ignored? Well, here you go:
[vimeo 92970195 w=500 h=281]…and here is the same play – Bordeleau aiming for Spurgeon – in slo-mo. #MnWild @RussoStrib from Chris Long on Vimeo.
Sorry Colorado fans, but there is absolutely no way that was unintentional and came as a result of the play. Bordeleau clearly had Spurgeon in his sights. Bordeleau actually ran him down to make that hit. Either Bordeleau didn’t know what he was doing or Spurgeon saw it coming and was able to avoid the damaging hit. I’m glad that we didn’t have a repeat, but for all the Avs people (and anti-Cooke people) calling for Cooke’s head, where’s the same outrage for what Bordeleau attempted to do? Colorado is far from being a clean team, so please, stop making the Wild out to being a dirty team.
Just when you think Minnesota is heading into tonight’s game with momentum, you get this lovely update from Michael Russo on tonight’s referees. The officiating has been horrid this entire series, but prepare for it to get infinitely worse. Tonight’s zebras are none other than Brad “No Goal” Meier and Kelly Sutherland. The Minnesota Wild and Meier have a long, ugly history going back to the early days with Jacques Lemaire. If my memory is correct, one of Jacques’ fines for speaking ill of the officials in the press came after an interaction with Meier. However, I think the most hate of Meier comes from the entire nation of Russia. Probably not the location of his next vacation, although I wouldn’t mind if Meier ran afoul of the Russian mob. Officiating in the NHL is horrible in general, but then there are officials like Meier that make it even worse. I was hoping that the Wild would go in and play like they have for much of the series and take tonight. If they win tonight, it will be the first time in Wild history that they could be set up to win a series at home. Yet with Brad Meier wearing an orange armband, there go my hopes and dreams.
So yes, I was feeling good about tonight’s game. Now I’m wary. However, wariness can often create extra determination. Minnesota is going to have to overcome many hurdles tonight. They’re going to have to overcome the crowd in Denver. They’re going to have to overcome an Avalanche team that should have some extra determination tonight. And more than ever, they’re going to have to overcome the officiating tonight. If Minnesota continues to play as they have in the past two games, refusing to even give Colorado a chance, then they should win. I want to see the Wild I’ve seen the past two games. I want to see that team the rest of the playoffs, however long that may be.
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