Wild and Bryzgalov back in series with 4-0 win in St. Paul

People handle surprises in different ways.  Now there are the good surprises like a party.  They’re fun, and often show ingenuity of the people who plan the party.  They had to find a way to invite all the guests without the guest of honor knowing and find a venue for the party.  Some surprise parties are easier to plan than others, but in general they’re enjoyed by all.  Then there are the surprises that none of us like.  For example, when the bearings go on your car.  That is an expensive surprise that we can all do without.  When that surprise has come my way, it feels like my heart just sinks.  Unfortunately, I’ve had the bearing surprise twice on the same car.  However, the second time it happened, we got the pleasant surprise of a FREE repair.  How does one get a free repair?  Well, you get that when the original repair was made with factory parts, and those factory parts and labor came with a lifetime warranty.  Wasn’t that a nice surprise?  Unfortunately, those kinds of surprises don’t happen enough in real life.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are usually full of surprises.  Now, I think most of us prefer the surprises that happen on the ice.  And there are good surprises and bad surprises.  For example, the amazing game-winning overtime goal by Mikael Granlund in Game 3.  That was a pleasant surprise.  Or the great surprise of winning Game 7 in Denver, after scoring four game-tying goals.  Yes, that was great.  Then there are the bad surprises, like when a player gets injured.  Or suspended.  Or racist Tweet by some knobs in Boston.  Or just about anything else bad.  You name it, we’ve all seen it in playoff hockey.  Surprises for tonight’s game happened before the puck was dropped.  First, we have Keith Ballard back in the Wild’s lineup.  That was something I didn’t expect.  I didn’t even think he was close to being back to returning.  He has taken the place of Nate Prosser.  Many fans were surprised that it was Prosser than sat and not Jonas Brodin.  The young Swede defenseman has had some bad games as of late, however Prosser wasn’t much better.  Perhaps it was a bit of a coin toss.  The biggest surprise however came out of Chicago.  It was announced that Nick Leddy would not be playing tonight.  No one has any update why, but perhaps it has more to do with his play lately.  One of those tidbits of info that came out on Twitter prior to the game, is that Leddy only played 46 seconds in the third period.  Not exactly a huge vote of confidence.

1st Period Thoughts: There are some nights where I wonder exactly who drew up the game plan.  And if it was a good plan, you then wonder if it was fully distributed to all involved.  So far in the early minutes, I’m not sure which question to ask.  The Wild would get the first power play in just under two minutes of play, after a hooking call on Niklas Hjalmarsson on Mikko Koivu.  Now while the puck possession wasn’t bad, once again the lack of initiative to shoot the puck (you know, the ultimate goal) while with the advantage.  Early in the power play, Dany Heatley should have shot, but chose to pass back toward the blue line.  Why?  Mikko Koivu once again making fans shake their head by his lack of desire to shoot.  You can’t score if you don’t shoot, well unless you’re Kyle Brodziak who was hauled down on an empty net breakaway.  A team like Minnesota cannot afford to have power plays without a shot on goal.  Chicago would get their first power play in the first half of the period after a Clayton Stoner call for interference/boarding.  The Wild would get a short-handed chance by Brodziak, who would get hauled down by Jonathan Toews, which would send the talented Chicago forward to the box.  With the extra ice, Chicago got a chance on Ilya Bryzgalov.  Hopefully Bryzgalov is seeing the puck better tonight, but he also needs to thanks his skaters for getting in the way tonight.  While the Wild had a short power play after Stoner’s penalty ended, they never took advantage of that fact.  The passes were ill-timed and ill-conceived.  What’s perhaps even crazier, is that at the half-way mark of the period, the shots are even at 2 shots for each team.  Another thing that’s bothering me, is once again, we’re seeing amazing work from Nino Niederreiter and Erik Haula but we’re not seeing that same level of determination from their higher paid teammates.  Niederreiter spent considerable time behind the net protecting the puck and had nothing to show for it.  Heatley would then take a slashing call on Corey Crawford, although it looked a bit more like he dropped it.  Haula, with his speed and determination, would get a great short-handed break-away, although he never got his shot away thanks to a hook by Duncan Keith.  Now let me say this, the officiating is leaps and bounds better than it was in Round One.  However, when an official sees where one player’s stick is on the other player’s body, it would be nice if it would be called.  However, I’m not going to place the majority of the blame on the officials.  The blame needs to fully rest on the shoulders of the men wearing green jerseys.  I am now starting to think that a new memo needs to go out.  That memo should read something to the effect, that players NOT named Erik Haula can take a shot or five on net.

2nd Period Thoughts: While I spoke of team memos for the first period, I would like to send one to head coach Mike Yeo.  For the love of all that is good in hockey, would you please put Haula and Niederreiter on the top line with Zach Parise?  Seriously, can you not see the speed and the desire to get shots on goal?  It would be a beautiful thing to see.  Yet, we’re just going to keep going with the status quo which has been working so well this series.  The best pressure so far in this game came before five minutes had passed this period.  You shouldn’t be shocked that it was Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle leading the way.  Even Jonas Brodin has seemed to find his game tonight.  Many of us have realized that Brodin has not been the same since his injury.  Perhaps, we are starting to see Brodin back to how we was before the injury.  That would be nice to see.  Bryzgalov also seems much calmer.  He had a flurry of action around him, he was on his back, and finally he was protected by his skaters to get the puck out of danger, and in fact created a offensive chance for the Wild.  Things would slow down, and truth be told be rather boring, during the middle parts of the period.  I’m sitting here thinking, “this is supposed to be exciting, right?”  This game has none of the fun and energy of Game 3 or 4 against Colorado.  With that round having gone to seven games, several of them in overtime, I just don’t think Minnesota has much left in the tank.  I’d love to be wrong, but I just don’t see a repeat of the first round.  Another memo that needs to go out, is stop making pointless passes.  The Wild had a great rush into the zone, and instead of shooting, they kept passing.  Remember, passes are far less important than goals and shots.  I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see more shots and goals than passes.  I’m hoping that the officiating supervisor discusses with tonight’s referees goaltender interference.  At least twice tonight, Bryzgalov has been run with no call.  It makes you wonder if suddenly all goaltenders, or just Wild goaltenders, are fair game.  Near the end of the period, Ryan Suter would head down to the locker room, after he was taken hard to the ice by Marian Hossa.  If Suter is gone for the long-term, I honestly do not know how the Wild could overcome such a loss.  At the very least, Bryzgalov appears to be seeing the puck much, much better tonight.

3rd Period Thoughts:  Good news, Suter is back.  Had he been out, full on panic mode could have been enacted.  Just when you begin to worry more about the not so great officiating, the Wild would get the break they needed.  Fontain would make the rush into the zone, with a pass to none other than Erik Haula.  It seems that none of the Chicago players had Haula covered, and he would cash in.  Now, if the message could be shared with the rest of their teammates.  Once again, with Haula scoring, it begs my earlier question.  Why hasn’t Yeo put Haula and Niederreiter on the top line with Parise.  My guess is there are some fragile egos at play.  I was beginning to think that Minnesota was going to have to hold on desperately to a one-goal lead.  The two-goal lead would come from hard work from Parise and Jason Pominville setting up Mikael Granlund.  Of course now, the Minnesota Wild are going to have to weather a storm from the Blackhawks.  They are going to send everything they possibly can at Bryzgalov, and they have the firepower to do so.  Just when you begin to think that Chicago was starting to gain control of the ice, Hjalmarsson would get called for cross-checking.  It would certainly be nice to see a good Wild power play for once.  With the last half of the third period, once again, we witness the hard work by Fontaine, Niederreiter and Haula.  And here’s something I haven’t had much of a chance to say, as the second half winds down, Matt Moulson is making his presence known.  It’s always harder for players acquired at the trade deadline to settle in and find their place.  Like many others that have been in his position, he’s just now finding his identity on this team.  I don’t know if he’ll remain with the team after the season, but it’s nice to see that he’s starting to take some chances.  Minnesota would have some clearing and icing problems.  When you have that many clearing failures and then when you do clear and it’s icing, that’s when you pretty much hand Chicago a golden ticket to score.  Once again, hard work by Niederreiter would pay off, in that he drew a penalty.  That power play would then become a Zach Parise power play goal.  It was first a shot off the goal, and Parise would send it in.  Crawford would complain to the officials that the initial shot was with a high stick, but after review, it would be deemed a good goal.  With just a couple of minutes left, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville would pull his goaltender for the extra attacker.  That decision would seal the game.  Niederreiter (I know, right) would skate hard into the zone with an empty net.  He could have taken the shot even though he had a defender on him, but he passed to Granlund for the empty-net goal.  The 4-0 win for the Wild definitely puts them back into the hunt this series.  This was a definite must-win.  And hopefully the performance by Ilya Bryzgalov will shut people up about him and his play.  He played a great game tonight.  If he can play like that the rest of the series, we just might stand half a chance.

Wild Notes:

~ The Wild roster tonight was as follows: Charlie Coyle, Cody McCormick, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Justin Fontaine, Dany Heatley, Kyle Brodziak, Nino Niederreiter, Matt Moulson, Jason Pominville, Erik Haula, Mikael Granlund, Keith Ballard, Clayton Stoner, Marco Scandella, Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, and Jared Spurgeon.  John Curry served as backup to starter, Ilya Bryzgalov.

~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by were: 1st Star, Mikael Granlund; 2nd Star, Ilya Bryzgalov; 3rd Star, Erik Haula.

~ Attendance was 19,416 at Xcel Energy Center.

Wild Prospect Report:

D – Mathew Dumba (Portland, WHL) ~ The Winterhawks take a 2-0 series lead after defeating Edmonton 3-1 on Sunday night.  Dumba does his part to help Portland’s cause; chipping in an assist and was a +2 in the victory.  The Calgary-native has 4 goals, 14 points and is a +24 in 16 playoff games.