Television can be a marvelous tool. It can be educational (if watching the right shows). I, and many of my generation and younger, grew up watching the institution that is Sesame Street. I learned to count to ten in Spanish, learned to look both ways before crossing a street while holding the hand of a grown-up person, and to value the power of my imagination. Yet while we were learning many important life lessons watching the likes of Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Grover, and Bert and Ernie, we were also entertained. Sesame Street also brought us catchy tunes (many of which we still know to this day), but even more important, it introduced us to fantastic musicians and actors. I still remember the great Cab Calloway singing a Sesame Street approved version of “Minnie the Moocher” with the Count. Other great musicians on those classic episodes would be Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Jose Carreras, Johnny Cash, Celia Cruz, Placido Domingo, B.B. King, Yo-Yo Ma, and the list goes on and on. Of course they have also worked on bringing current pop groups like One Direction (not exactly my cup of tea). And they’ve educated and entertained us for forty-five years.
Last night, via the power of television and a satellite dish, I was able to tune in to last night’s New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers game. I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly entertained by what I saw. I have found that often I can’t get particularly invested in a game that doesn’t feature a team I like. Let’s just say I can do without both the Rangers and Flyers. Sure, they’re both teams with history (in the league and with each other) and have had success, so I can’t completely discount their place in the league. I just don’t have to like them. I did however find the parts of the game I did watch last night to be highly educational. The most educational bit we noticed last night, is that Philadelphia looks like it’s always on the penalty kill even when they’re even strength. It felt like they were just standing there more of the time, unable (or unwilling) to move their feet. And as if to add insult to injury, the Flyers looks unbelievable slow, but that would be due to size. For example, Minnesota has dressed eleven players who weigh less than 200 pounds. Those eleven players for the most part have great speed to make up for their lack of size. Philadelphia strangely enough has dressed sixteen players under 200 pounds. They may have more smaller players than us, but having watched last night’s game, they clearly don’t have to speed to compensate for the size. And because of that, they looked looked bigger and slower. If Minnesota can expose that lack of speed and the fact they’re tired from last night’s bout with the Rangers, the Wild just might open this road trip with a much needed road win.
1st Period Thoughts: Okay, time for a mini-rant before the game even starts. You see my friends, that is the exact problem, start times. When we’re given a game time please, let’s start at that time. If your team needs to host some sort of ceremony (Stanley Cup, jersey retirement, or tonight’s Flyers’ hall of fame), it needs to be held with plenty of time before the scheduled start time. A 6:00pm start time is now going to be a 6:45 start time. Absolutely ridiculous. And let’s face it, even games without a pre-game ceremony seem start about ten minutes after the scheduled time. The start times in hockey are getting to be about as bad as a single at-bat in baseball or the last two minutes of a basketball game. Okay, end rant. I was wrong, new rant. Anthem singers. I know Philly’s Lauren Hart has a cult following, but she’s horrid. Seriously people, sing it so the rest of us can sing along. End rant. Minnesota early in the game has to find a way to combat the Flyers’ physical game. Philadelphia is going to try everything (including dirty tactics) to combat Minnesota’s speed. Just ask Keith Ballard in the opening minutes. Although Philadelphia is not looking quite as slow as they did last night in New York. Part of me thinks this might be because the Wild are playing a bit timid to start, but you simply cannot afford to play a timid game against the Flyers, especially in Philadelphia. However, it looks like the Wild are finding a way to settle down their game and any jitters they’re having, as they’ve been able to intercept pucks and get back into the offensive and finding shots on goal. One concern I’ve had is a couple of icings that have been called close in succession. Minnesota has enough speed that they shouldn’t have to dump the puck and they’ve had several days off, so they shouldn’t be tired. Another concern was a dangerous puck play by Darcy Kuemper. His skaters could have taken care of the puck, but instead he played it and was picked off for a quick shot by Claude Giroux. Trust me Darcy, Giroux is not the kind of player you want to hand the puck to. More icings by Minnesota just show how unwilling they are to play a physical game. Another issue is Matt Dumba’s often inability to control the puck at the blueline. He forced an offsides that didn’t need to happen. Minnesota would draw the first penalty of the night, so Minnesota’s #28 power play gets to test Philadelphia’s #30 penalty kill. I’d like to say we could score a goal, but someone has to make such a bad penalty kill look better. I honestly wish I could be more positive about our power play, but it’s just not in me. And as we all witnessed, my pessimism was warranted. And by allowing the Flyers to kill the penalty we ultimately gave them momentum. Philadelphia looks more like the team ready to play. Minnesota would get power play number two thanks to former Wild member Nick Schultz sending the puck over the glass. What aggravates me to know end is the lack of desperation to shoot the puck, especially by players such as Jason Pominville and Jared Spurgeon. Seriously, take a shot. And to make matters worse, another misplay of the puck by Kuemper, and he should be very thankful he only had Wild players in front of him, because it would have been an easy short-handed goal. Yet again, another waste of a power play. With just over four minutes remaining in the period, it became a bit of a shooting gallery on Kuemper. Another player that deserves to be on my hit list is Thomas Vanek, as he can’t even clear a puck with any kind of determination. Start playing hockey and stop thinking about the easy money you’re making in Minnesota. Tonight is showing just about every hockey pet-peeve I have. The one that’s really getting on my nerves is passing the puck backwards before we even cross the blueline. That is why we remained hemmed in our own zone. And while Kuemper has made some boneheaded moves tonight, he is the reason why we haven’t been scored on. His skaters certainly weren’t giving him any support in the last minute of the period and he had to make some ridiculous saves. The Wild need to find a way to come back after the intermission with some fire in their bellies, but since we’re on the road, I don’t see that happening. 2nd Period Thoughts: Nothing like three seconds in for the Wild to be sent to the penalty box. Mikko Koivu was tripped in the face off by Jakub Voracek, but because Koivu’s hand hit the puck, it was deemed to be a delay of game. While Minnesota’s penalty kill in considerably better than Philadelphia’s, I for one do not like to tempt fate by spending too much time down a man. The Wild seemed to have a hard time clearing the puck, but they don’t do themselves any favors when you watch players like Spurgeon skating behind the net without determined control of the puck. After killing the penalty, Minnesota finds themselves definitely on the short end of the shot clock, while the Flyers are up to eighteen shots for the night, the Wild only have six shots. With two power plays in the first period, there should definitely be more shots, but when you refuse to shoot the puck or even skate with the puck and just dump, you’re going to have a low shot total. Another player I would love to see take more chances would be Mikael Granlund. He started the season out strong, and he seems to almost be invisible these days. No team can afford to have a talented player like him be completely invisible. However, he’s not the only one. A lot of players are being invisible lately and those who are standing out tonight are not doing so for good reasons. Charlie Coyle can also be added to the same list that Granlund is on. So as I’m complaining about Granlund, he does something positive. While working hard on the forecheck behind the net, he’s tripped, which sends the Wild to their third power play of the night. I would like to know however, why Vanek is on the top power play unit. He hasn’t done much to prove he belongs there. I can think of several players I would rather have in his spot, but as Wild fans, we’re often left to scratch our heads while we question the moves of Mike Yeo and Andrew Brunette. And when Vanek should shoot, he opts to pass. The Wild power play is just a bad train wreck to watch. So while I sit here grousing, they finally figure out the Flyers’ penalty kill with a weak shot by Nino Niederreiter. A goal doesn’t have to be pretty to count. And that goal finally jumpstarts Minnesota. The hard work they are putting in draws another penalty and Minnesota can see if they can score their second power play goal of the night. And considering that we can only score power play goals in pairs with numerous games in between, we have to be bound for one. Yet, since that is the first power play goal scored on the road this season, I’m not sure if that’s possible either. The Flyers not only killed the penalty, they seemed to have possibly taken Granlund out of the game, and then scored a quick goal after a series of mis-steps by none other than Matt Dumba. I keep hoping that Minnesota will send him down to Iowa. He is not ready for the NHL, and rushing him into the NHL game is often a bad idea, especially for defensemen. Granlund is back on the bench, albeit with a cut to his cheek. Minnesota would head to the box on an interference call on Ballard, but the faceoff would take place in neutral ice because their defenseman joined in the scrum. Minnesota fought hard during the penalty kill and while they’re playing the game mostly in their own zone, they’re certainly doing so with more fire. Watching the Wild on the delayed penalty, you just have to hope they’ll play the upcoming power play with as much desperation and energy. Yet, that wish wouldn’t be granted. It looked more like the Flyers were on the power play, so it’s fortunate that the horn sounded early in the power play to end the period. The Wild will start the third with the man-advantage, so hopefully they figure out their game during their ten minute break. 3rd Period Thoughts: I can see the Wild are back to playing their usual, pathetic power play. It’s not every day you get to face the worst penalty kill in the league, but hey, if you want to waste those chances don’t be surprised when you don’t win. It’s truly amazing what happens when I complain. They get some of their best play just after the power play expired, which turns into a Marco Scandella goal off of a rolling puck. I’ll take it, but now they need to find a way to get more of those as well as keep Philadelphia off of the score sheet. That might be the hardest part. And we see the difficulty set in, by the fact that Minnesota would once again get hemmed into their zone. The Wild are truly making this game much harder than it needs to be. Sometimes Minnesota is its own worst enemy. In fact I feel like I’m getting dizzy from shaking my head so much over bad decisions with the puck by Minnesota. It’s those bad decisions which are one of the main reasons why the Flyers have outshot the Wild by an almost 2-1 ratio. It’s almost too bad that this game couldn’t be played 4-on-4 for the entire game, because with more room on the ice, it feels like Minnesota has more room to avoid the physical play. But alas, we only get that when players from both teams are sent to the box and overtime. Some kudos have to go to Ryan Carter. He plays a simple and direct game. He doesn’t look for the highlight reel play. He plays a simple game, skates the puck into the zone, and takes a hard shot on Ray Emery. More of Minnesota’s players could learn a thing or two by watching his game. In fact one of my fellow Wild fans just made a suggestion so crazy it just might work. He thinks that Carter should be on a line with Kyle Brodziak and Vanek. He says with that combination, we just might see some go-to-the-goal action. Sadly, I don’t think Yeo has it in him to make that creation or perhaps a certain former Sabre might not appreciate that move. Okay, back to my hit list. Why, oh why, does Jason Pominville insist on passing the puck? For whatever reason, he’s pulling a Koivu these days, in that he looks to pass instead of skate with the puck and shoot. It’s frustrating to watch, and then it gets worse. The Wild get assessed a delay of game penalty because Nate Prosser closed his hand on the puck. In the waning minutes of the game, taking a dumb penalty that is completely avoidable is pretty much unforgivable. Now is not the time to take such a penalty. And it ends up paying for Philadelphia. Giroux, scores his sixth power play goal of the season. It was an unfortunate goal, as Spurgeon’s skate protector came loose and was stuck under his skate so he was essentially unable to move and therefore assist Kuemper in stopping the puck. As has been noted by many, it is of import to mention that Koivu hasn’t played this period since the opening power play. No one seems to know if he’s sick, injured, or being benched. Just when you have accepted the fact that this game will most likely head to overtime, Jason Zucker scores the go-ahead goal with just 45 seconds remaining, with assists by Vanek and Ryan Suter. With the Flyers pulling Emery, Minnesota had to keep working hard to keep the goal lead. And between Kuemper finally settling down and creating some big saves at big times, the Wild were able to come out with the win. This was a major road win, in a building that has not been kind to the Wild. They finally showed that they could score a power play goal on the road as well. Minnesota now needs to take this important win to Tampa Bay. While this game was far from perfect, hopefully we learn from the mistakes. And to make this win even more important, we essentially got that “lost” point back from the Winnipeg, as they lost in Winnipeg tonight. This is a crucial road trip. It’s not going to be easy, but at least this major hurdle is out of the way. Wild Notes: ~ The Wild roster tonight is as follows: Charlie Coyle, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Justin Fontaine, Jason Zucker, Ryan Carter, Nino Niederreiter, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Erik Haula, Mikael Granlund, Keith Ballard, Stu Bickel, Marco Scandella, Ryan Suter, Nate Prosser, Jared Spurgeon, and Matt Dumba. Darcy Kuemper was backed up by Niklas Backstrom. ~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star, Darcy Kuemper; 2nd Star, Marco Scandella; 3rd Star, Mark Streit. ~ Attendance was 19,919 at Wells Fargo Center. Wild Prospect Report: C – Pavel Jenys (Sudbury, OHL) ~ The big Czech forward continues to be a bright spot on what has been a tough season for the Wolves. The 6’2″ center had a goal in the Wolves 3-2 shootout win over Kitchener on Sunday night. Jenys has 5 goals, 16 points, 18 PIM’s in 21 games.
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