An annual tradition around the holidays for the Minnesota Wild is an outdoor practice at the John Rose Oval in Roseville. Its a time for the players to relax a bit and for fans to see the team put through its paces in a light-hearted environment. Or so that’s what the team and Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo thought. He would be stirred from the ‘fun’ event by the questions from reporters wanting to know how the team is going to respond after its most recent overtime loss to the Predators. Yeo was indignant in his response saying, “I don’t want to talk about last night. We can talk about that tomorrow. To me, this (outdoor practice) is what we’re dealing with today.” Well, I don’t see the questioning going away anytime soon, especially with the team losing more and more ground in the standings.
Just take a look around the rest of the division. Winnipeg keeps winning, Chicago keeps winning, and now Dallas and Colorado are winning. Noticing a trend? The Wild are not part of that trend, having lost their last three games, two of which in overtime. So that’s why you get questions at a ‘fun’ outdoor practice when your team has only managed to earn 2 points in 3-home games in a row. So will the Wild give their fans a holiday treat or some coal for their stockings instead?
1st Period Thoughts: The Wild started the game groggy like a person who wanted to sleep a bit longer. By the way, is there a reason for there being a 6PM start for this one? Its not on national TV? Silly to move it to just accommodate Eastern viewers. The Wild were coughing the puck up all over place early as the team’s normally stable defenseman were fumbling the puck all over their zone. A blind throw away pass by Jonas Brodin went right to the stick of R.J. Umberger who fed a quick pass across to Sean Couturier buried a shot behind Darcy Kuemper to make it 1-0. The Wild’s problems continued as the ham-handedness along the blueline kept putting Minnesota on its heels. Worse yet, the team seemed to lack the hustle or even the will to try to battle back for the puck. So just a few minutes after Couturier’s goal the Flyers would add another as the lethargic Wild ambled after Phildelphia in their own end until Luke Schenn sent a pass down Claude Giroux and he wasted no time beating Kuemper on a wicked wrist shot. 2-0 Philadelphia. The goal finally awakened the Wild from its slumber, and the team finally started to show signs of life by moving its feet and showing a little more desire on the ice. Minnesota got even more of a kickstarter a few minutes later as Marco Scandella was set up for a bomb from the point that beat Ray Emery to cut the Flyers lead in half 2-1. Minnesota kept working the puck deep and seemed to cause the Flyers difficulties with its speed through the 2nd half of the period. While Minnesota was able to get pucks on goal, the Flyers did a decent job at denying the Wild from having that rebound opportunity. The Wild would earn a power play late in the period and the best way to describe it was that it was a complete waste of two minutes of hockey. Pathetic passing, no player movement and no real strategy and you could sense the fans wanted to boo but relented since it was the end of the period. The apathetic applause at the conclusion of the period said it all. Another disappointing start for a team that seems to making that a habit these days.
2nd Period Thoughts: The Wild tried to go on the attack right away and it was Jason Pominville who fired a shot on goal and as he tried to follow up his rebound he was shoved into the boards by Niklas Grossman earning Minnesota a power play. The power play was more direct in sending pucks on goal, forcing Emery to make some saves building some positive momentum to start the game. The 2nd unit came on and it was Mikael Granlund making a nifty little move to elude a Flyers forechecker before trying to go end-to-end as he unleashed a heavy shot that was fought off by Emery. Minnesota would come up empty on the power play but it was a good sign for the Wild with the team displaying a sense of urgency. The Flyers would take another penalty as Brayden Schenn was given a delay of game for laying on the puck. Minnesota would take advantage of the opportunity as Pominville stepped into a slap shot that would change direction as it struck the knee of Charlie Coyle and skitter by Emery to tie the game at 2-2. With the team back into the game, the Flyers seemed to have the better scoring chances as Kuemper suddenly found himself busy again. Just as it seemed the Flyers were going to re-take the lead Jakub Voracek would haul down Coyle in the Wild zone for a holding call that drew the ire of Philadelphia bench boss Craig Berube. The Wild did not get a lot going on the power play, as their puck movement wasn’t particularly creative nor crisp and this made it fairly easy for the Flyers to deny shooting lanes. Finally without any other clear option to set up a quick shot Koivu tried to drive the net but Emery would pounce on the puck and that was the only real chance worth mentioning on that power play. Minnesota would nearly cash in moments after the power play expired as a puck sent into the Flyers’ zone struck a stanchion and take a strange bounce as the puck was just out of reach of Jason Zucker as Emery had left his crease thinking he was going to play the puck behind his goal. Philadelphia would take back the lead as Kyle Brodziak was trapped down low with the puck and as it worked its way off the boards the Flyers raced by him and it was Wayne Simmonds pulling the trigger on a snap shot that was partially deflected off the stick of Jared Spurgeon and by an unscreened Kuemper. 3-2 Flyers. It was another soft goal that served to deflate the team. Philadelphia would nearly add to its lead as Mike Raffl set up Pierre-Edouard Bellmare on a doorstep chance that was denied by Kuemper. The tempers of the two clubs seemed to become more of a factor as the game went on as both teams tried pushing the other around. Minnesota would inexplicably become more selective with its shots and what started out as a good period sort of became a sloppy mess. This team has to be sharper and right now I wouldn’t trust Kuemper to stop too many shots if the Wild want to win this game. Also, I am not sure why Ryan Suter is the ideal point man on the power play still.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Wild did not start out well in the 3rd as a bad turnover in the neutral zone turned into a rush for the Flyers as Couturier pulled the trigger on a shot that was stopped by Kuemper but the puck would get tipped up into the netting and another little shoving match ensued between Couturier and Suter. Minnesota would then try to counter and they thought they had tied the game when Parise sent a shot almost parallel to the goal line that somehow snuck by Emery. The goal was reviewed and replay clearly demonstrated the net was lifted up slightly by Jason Pominville being checked into the net and the puck slid underneath the cage and in and thus was ruled ‘no goal.’ The ‘no goal’ call seemed to deflate the Wild and the home crowd and Philadelphia seemed to have more jump over the next few minutes. The Flyers were content to sit back in a 1-2-2 and wait for the Wild to make a mistake and then counter attack as they were outworking Minnesota all over the ice. The lack of fight of the Wild would result in another Flyers goal as a lost board battle ended up having Pierre-Edouard Bellmare sending a puck out to the point to Andrew McDonald who got off a wrist shot that was deflected by Vincent Lecavalier to make it 4-2 Philadelphia. The puck trickled through 5-hole and by the void of noise afterwards its clear the fans almost expect disaster to happen to this team these days. There wasn’t a whole lot of urgency from the Wild after Lecavalier’s goal as the Flyers were content to play keep away for the rest of the game. Minnesota wasted valuable time chasing Philadelphia all over the ice as the team relied upon dump in’s and other plays where they gave up possession so easily. The team was just going through the motions, biding its time to go home. Jason Zucker would provide a little spark as a long pass got him behind the Flyers’ defense as McDonald got caught flatfooted and he raced in and fired a wrist shot that missed wide as he was slashed by the diving Flyers defender giving Minnesota an important power play. Well it was important to everyone but the Wild’s power play unit who were disorganized and slow and methodical in their puck movement. Beyond one point shot by Ryan Suter it was mostly a waste of time. You could hear boo’s from the crowd as the Wild patiently tried to set up a quality scoring chance but it never came and it was another missed opportunity. The Flyers would then get their first power play of the game as Coyle earned a foolish roughing call. On the power play the Wild had some decent puck pressure to cause some turnovers, but even when they did their inability to get to the loose pucks squandered chances to clear their end. Minnesota would get the kill, and they’d try to go on the attack. The Wild had another goal waived off as a Christian Folin shot was redirected by Vanek way over the head of any player and down and through the pads of Emery. The crowd boo’d the call even though it was a pretty obvious high stick on the deflection. Minnesota would pull Kuemper with over 2 minutes left for an extra attacker. Yet even with 6 attackers the Wild seemed to hesitant to shoot the puck and kept spending valuable time trying to set up the perfect shot. The Flyers Mike Raffl would bury the empty netter to seal a 5-2 victory.
Kuemper looked pretty frazzled sitting on the Wild bench after having stopped 25 shots in the loss. I don’t think he was horrible, but he still was suspect enough to thwart any chance the Wild had of winning this game. Defensive breakdowns helped dig a hole early. Losing battles along the boards in the defensive zone are just a matter of being committed and working hard. The team wasn’t willing to pay that price tonight. This team isn’t nearly good enough to take shortcuts like that.
Offensively the team has more or less abandoned the puck possession style that was its hallmark at the beginning of the season. The team has also become far more selective in taking shots and the team that used to be near the top of the league in shots on goals managed just 24 tonight. This was especially true on the power play and while they did manage to score once on the man advantage they had moments where the pathetic performance on the power play both killed the crowd and demoralized the team.
Sounds like a lot more anticipation for the break after a drawn out home stand where they usually had a few days in between games. What do we get from this well-rested group? The same empty comments about needing to be better. Where is the sense of urgency? Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo , “The results match what we’ve shown, what happened last week or earlier in the season is irrelevant and if we’re going to wait around for that to happen without doing the things to get us there.” He took it a step further saying its up to the players to fix this and that he and the rest of the staff have tried all different kinds of strategies to get the team out of its current downward spiral. The Jets, the Avalanche, and just about everyone in the Central Division are going on the rampage in the standings while the Wild seem to be in free fall. Maybe the fans can motivate a bit more with boo’s on Saturday if we see an effort like this again.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster was as follows: Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, Kyle Brodziak, Stu Bickel, Ryan Carter, Matt Cooke, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Christian Folin, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella and Justin Falk. John Curry backed up Darcy Kuemper. Justin Fontaine, Erik Haula, Nate Prosser and Niklas Backstrom were the healthy scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Wayne Simmonds, 2nd Star Claude Giroux, 3rd Star Marco Scandella
~ Attendance was 19,020 at Xcel Energy Center.
Iowa Wild Report:
Recent Score: Iowa 1, Chicago 5
The Wolves entered this game more than a little ornery after being embarrassed 5-1 the previous night in their own barn by the Wild. Chicago would strike early as Rob Bordson fired a wrist shot that caromed off the leg of Danny Syvret and by Johan Gustafsson to make it 1-0 Wolves. Iowa would answer back just a few minutes later as Zack Mitchell would tap in a shot from in close to tie the game at 1-1. The Wild would benefit from a quick whistle as the Wolves thought they scored early in the 2nd, but the officials blew the whistle just before the puck rolled over the goal line. A foolish unsportsmanlike penalty taken by Curt Gogol gave the Wolves a power play and they would take full advantage of it as Shane Harper scores to give Chicago a 2-1 lead midway through the 2nd period. Gogol would let the officials have it after the Wolves power play goal and he’d get tossed with a game misconduct. Iowa would have a power play late in the 2nd but were unable to cash in. The Wolves would add 3 more goals in the 3rd as John McCarthy scored twice and Colin Fraser added one to seal a 5-1 victory for Chicago. Gustafsson had 21 saves in the loss.
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