Wild Dominate Avalanche in 2-0 Home Victory

Family gatherings are often complicated for a variety of reasons.  But most often its complicated because of schedules as everyone has places to go and people to see.  If you’re a hockey parent, as much as you might wish to stick around and catch up with your family it means you’re probably packing your kids up to go play in some holiday hockey tournament(s).  Yet, it can also be complicated because of current events.  An awkward situation like a relationship / marriage that has recently ended and this your first time seeing that relative without their significant other can make conversations feel as though you are navigating an emotional minefield.  However, at times family gathering’s tension can be summed up into a single individual.  The douchebag cousin / in-law.  They know everything, you apparently know nothing or don’t understand or something along those lines.  This individual always manages to say the worst things and make everyone really wish they hadn’t shown up in the first place.  But hey, that douchebag somehow manages to have a ‘great’ time.

The Colorado Avalanche are that douchebag cousin to the Minnesota Wild.  The Avalanche have beaten the Wild in their previous meetings and certainly isn’t because they’re the better team.  Its mostly been because the Wild have allowed Colorado to thug it up a bit and get Minnesota off of its game.  Will the Wild finally demonstrate they are the better team and earn a victory over Colorado?

1st Period Thoughts:  Minnesota had one of their better opening period efforts that we’ve seen all season.  You could see it in their skating to the focus they showed while establishing the forecheck early.  Right from the first shift as the team sent out Mikko Koivu, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund to start the game and Zucker and Granlund put Colorado on its heels right away.  The Wild just appeared to moving at a completely different speed than Colorado which seemed hesitant and reactive on nearly every play of the puck.  Minnesota’s early dominance resulted in a few quality scoring chances as the 4th line set up Pat Cannone making his NHL debut with a chance from the slot that was dismissed by Semyon Varlamov.  Cannone had another nice chance on a redirection on a point shot that forced Varlamov to make a nice reflex save.  The Avalanche would counter attack but Minnesota was quick to backcheck and stymie Colorado’s offense.  Still, their top forwards like Matt Duchene seemed dangerous when they had the puck on their stick but you could sense a level of frustration in the Avalanche game as Duchene just wound up and rifled a slap shot that was stopped by Devan Dubnyk and Jonas Brodin swept up the rebound and Minnesota would counter with an attack of its own.  The Wild was also playing physically as Chris Stewart caught Cody McLeod with a big check that had the Avalanche agitator reeling a bit.  Minnesota’s assertive play nearly cashed in as Zach Parise found Jason Pominville with a pretty diagonal pass that he one-timed on goal only to be denied by a fantastic save by Varlamov.  A few minutes later Kurtis Gabriel would draw a holding penalty on Mikail Grigorenko and Minnesota would make the Avalanche pay for their mistake.  On the man advantage it was Mathew Dumba noticing the Wild had a few forwards near the blue paint, he’d pass the puck towards Eric Staal who controlled the puck with his skate and the puck was swept up by Charlie Coyle who quickly sent a shot on goal that found the back of the net.  1-0 Wild.  Minnesota wasn’t peppering Varlamov with shots, but the Wild certainly seemed to be in control for most of the period.

2nd Period Thoughts:  Minnesota’s dominant effort continued in the 2nd.  The Wild was looking to add to their lead and it was a pretty saucer pass to a streaking Eric Staal who split two defenders for a breakaway and he was hooked as he tried to pull the trigger and thus he was awarded a penalty shot.  On the penalty shot, I think Staal was a little gassed as he took a slower approach and then tried beating Varlamov low glove side that the Avalanche goalie snagged out of the air rather nonchalantly.  A tripping penalty to Jared Spurgeon put the Wild a man down, but Minnesota was aggressive on the kill and the Wild was able to put Colorado on its heels and even creating a few token shorthanded chances in the process.  After the Wild killed off the Avalanche power play and Minnesota resumed their assault on the Colorado zone.  The Parise, Staal, Pominville line was just swarming all period long.  With Pominville and Parise getting the lion’s share of chances but Varlamov was coming up with the saves.  Minnesota’s persistence would finally pay off as Dumba would show great patience and vision as he chose to skate the puck towards the crease but instead of shooting he’d dish it cross-ice where Koivu was there to tap it by Varlamov who was thinking shot all of the way.  2-0 Wild.  The Avalanche just didn’t seem to have much push back but Varlamov kept making saves and keeping his club within two despite the fact Colorado was outshot 17-9.  Pominville appears to be snakebit again as he missed some golden opportunities but the Wild look supremely confident in the way they’re moving the puck and the calmness they transition the puck out of their own end.  Almost too confident to the point where the team was taking undue risks and with just a 2-0 lead far too close to be careless with the puck.

3rd Period Thoughts:  The 3rd period was a bit messy but not because of the play of the Minnesota Wild.  I am not trying to complain about the officiating, but they started to call a lot of penalties and that changed the flow of the game.  Minnesota would take two penalties on its own early in the 3rd, but Minnesota’s penalty killers were stellar as they worked sticks into shooting and passing lanes and were able to clear the zone.  After two successive kills, the Wild would try to go on the attack and the messy part of the period would begin.  It started with some blatant tripping calls that either went uncalled as Tyson Barrie tripped up Mikael Granlund and as Jason Zucker tried to track down the puck in the Colorado zone he’d get ran by Gabriel Landeskog who decided to thug it up with nothing better to do.  As Zucker chirped at the Avalanche captain for the late hit, Landeskog gave him hit to the face and both would get roughing calls as Minnesota went on the power play.  On the man advantage the Wild probably were guilty of passing the puck a little too much and Nino Niederreiter would get tagged with a marginal holding call.  With so much time spent on special teams that meant the Wild had inadvertently shortened its bench.  The Wild would go into lockdown mode in the final 4 minutes and the Avalanche never had a threatening scoring chance in the last 5 minutes and they’d skate away with a dominant 2-0 victory.

Devan Dubnyk was good, making 18 saves tonight but he didn’t have to deliver many clutch saves this evening.  The defensive effort was so strong in front of him the Avalanche had maybe 2-3 quality scoring chances the whole game.  Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin were superb.  The penalty kill finished a perfect 5-for-5, and were so solid they never even allowed Colorado to gain any momentum whatsoever.

Offensively the Wild’s forecheck did an outstanding job keeping Colorado on its heels defensively.  Mathew Dumba was demonstrating great patience as he helped set up both Wild goals this evening.  I thought the Parise, Staal, Pominville line was very active and assertive but they just were not rewarded with any goals.  Pominville especially was taking his chances to pull the trigger, piling up 6 shots on goal.  I was a little disappointed they didn’t give Cannone some shifts late in the game, but he didn’t look too bad in his NHL debut.  Chris Stewart looks about as comfortable as we’ve ever seen him and he was taking shots and delivering hits too.

Despite the inconsistent officiating down the stretch, what impressed me the most was the business-like attitude the Wild had throughout this game.  From the drop of the puck, the Wild were all over Colorado and they didn’t really let up.  Colorado didn’t seem too interested in putting up a fight but Minnesota didn’t help pump up the Avalanche at all as they may have done in the past.  Minnesota outworked them in every facet of the game and even though 2-0 may not seem like a blowout it might as well have been for how outplayed Colorado was.  Good teams bury opponents they should beat and the Wild did just that.  The schedule certainly gets tougher from here on out, but Minnesota is playing with a ton of confidence and that should help them down the road.

Wild Notes:

~ The Wild roster tonight was as follows: Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Eric Staal, Jason Pominville, Zach Parise, Tyler Graovac, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, Pat Cannone, Chris Stewart, Kurtis Gabriel, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Mathew Dumba, Marco Scandella and Nate Prosser.  Darcy Kuemper backed up Devan Dubnyk.  Christian Folin was the lone healthy scratch.

~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Mikko Koivu, 2nd Star Devan Dubnyk, 3rd Star Semyon Varlamov

~ Attendance was 19,018 at Xcel Energy Center.

~ Pat Cannone wore #42 joining Andy Sutton or Drew Bagnall in having worn the number in franchise history.

Iowa Wild Report:

Sunday: Iowa 3, Manitoba 1

It hasn’t been an easy road, but the team is having its best seasons since coming to Iowa.  The Wild would find the back of the net first as Sam Anas was fed a puck just underneath the left faceoff dot and fired a quick shot that beat Eric Comrie short side, 1-0.  Iowa would add another a few minutes later as Grayson Downing cashed in on the man advantage even though Comrie tried to claim he kept the puck out.  A quick goal review affirmed Downing’s goal and it was 2-0 Wild.  The Moose would then answer back with a fluke goal as a Peter Stoykewych point shot would glance off the skate of Patrice Cormier and by Alex Stalock to cut Iowa’s lead to one going into the 2nd period.  The 2nd period was more of a defensive struggle as neither team could find a way to light the lamp.  Iowa would then strike early in the 3rd on the power play as Teemu Pulkkinen would thread a cross-ice pass to Jordan Schroeder for a quick wrist shot that beat Comrie, 3-1 Wild.  Iowa then sat back in to a 1-2-2 and the Moose were never able to mount much of a rally and the Wild would win.  Stalock made 24 saves in the victory.

Monday: Iowa 1, Manitoba 2

The back-to-back was less kind to the Iowa Wild as they dropped one game below .500.  In front of 3,677 fans the Moose would take the lead as Chase De Leo swept up a rebound off a Scott Glennie shot and then buried it by a sprawling Steve Michlaek.  Iowa would tie the game as they’d strike on the power play as Mario Lucia threaded a nice cross-ice pass to Teemu Pulkkinen for an easy tap in goal.  The Wild continued to dominate play throughout the 1st period but couldn’t get another puck by Eric Comrie.  The 2nd period and the majority of the 3rd had about all the excitement of a chess match as both clubs were wary of giving up odd-man chances.  The Moose would break the stalemate as Kyle Connor scored on wicked shot from the high slot that sent the water bottle flying with just over a minute left and that would stand as the game winner.  There was some controversy on the game winning goal as Moose defenseman Kevin Czuczman caught a puck in mid-air but instead of immediately dropping it to the ice, turned and dropped it after Jordan Schroeder had skated by.  Iowa bench boss Derek Lalonde was incensed by the non-call to Czuczman that led to Connor’s goal.  Michalek had 21 saves in the loss.

Wild Prospect Report:

D – Gustav Bouramman (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) ~ the Stockholm-native is off to a relatively slow start compared to last season, but he still makes his way onto the scoresheet with a helper in the Greyhounds 8-1 thrashing of Sarnia on Sunday.  Bouramman has a goal, 16 points, 20 PIM’s and is a +6 in 32 games.