{"id":871409,"date":"2019-01-14T08:13:10","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T13:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=871409"},"modified":"2019-01-14T08:13:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T13:13:10","slug":"game-preview-minnesota-wild-vs-philadelphia-flyers-1-14-19-600pm-at-wells-fargo-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/game-preview-minnesota-wild-vs-philadelphia-flyers-1-14-19-600pm-at-wells-fargo-arena\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview: Minnesota Wild vs. Philadelphia Flyers 1\/14\/19 @ 6:00PM at Wells Fargo Arena"},"content":{"rendered":"
Minnesota Wild<\/span><\/strong> (22-19-3)\u00a0 47pts\u00a0 5th in the Central<\/p>\n 2.82 Goals For Per Game (21st in the NHL)<\/p>\n 2.82 Goals Against Per Game (8th in the NHL)<\/p>\n 22% Power Play (9th in the NHL)<\/p>\n 84.7% Penalty Kill (4th in the NHL)<\/p>\n Top 5 Scorers<\/span>:<\/p>\n 1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 19G 21A = 40pts<\/p>\n 2. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 12G 27A = 39pts<\/p>\n 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 24A = 28pts<\/p>\n 4. #12 Eric Staal ~ 13G 14A = 27pts<\/p>\n 5. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 7G 19A = 26pts<\/p>\n Top 3 PIM’s<\/span>:<\/p>\n 1. #36 Nick Seeler ~ 39 PIM’s<\/p>\n 2. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 29 PIM’s<\/p>\n 3. #29 Greg Pateryn ~ 27 PIM’s<\/p>\n Top Goaltenders<\/span>:<\/p>\n 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (17-15-3)\u00a0 2.62GAA\u00a0 .914%SP 1SO<\/p>\n 2. #32 Alex Stalock (5-4-0)\u00a0 2.75GAA\u00a0 .898%SP<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Vs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Philadelphia<\/span> Flyers<\/span><\/strong> (16-23-6)\u00a0 38pts\u00a0 8th in the Metropolitan<\/p>\n 2.69 Goals For Per Game (26th in the NHL)<\/p>\n 3.56 Goals Against Per Game (29th in the NHL)<\/p>\n 12.8% Power Play (30th in the NHL)<\/p>\n 76.4% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL)<\/p>\n Top 5 Scorers<\/span>:<\/p>\n 1. #28 Claude Giroux ~ 14G 34A = 48pts<\/p>\n 2. #93 Jakub Voracek ~ 11G 25A = 36pts<\/p>\n 3. #14 Sean Couturier ~ 16G 18A = 34pts<\/p>\n 4. #11 Travis Konecny ~ 11G 13A = 24pts<\/p>\n 5. #17 Wayne Simmonds ~ 13G 6A = 19pts<\/p>\n Top 3 PIM’s<\/span>:<\/p>\n 1. #17 Wayne Simmonds ~ 65 PIM’s<\/p>\n 2. #3 Radko Gudas ~ 43 PIM’s<\/p>\n 3. #8 Robert Hagg ~ 41 PIM’s<\/p>\n Top Goaltenders<\/span>:<\/p>\n 1. #79 Carter Hart (3-5-1)\u00a0 2.54GAA\u00a0 .916%SP<\/p>\n 2. #56 Mike McKenna (0-1-0)\u00a0 4.22GAA\u00a0 .833%SP<\/p>\n Lines<\/span><\/em>:<\/p>\n Philadelphia Flyers<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n van Reimsdyk~Giroux~Konecny<\/p>\n Lindblom~Couturier~Voracek<\/p>\n Laughton~Patrick~Simmonds<\/p>\n Raffl~Varone~Weise<\/p>\n Provorov~Sanheim<\/p>\n Gostisbehere~Gudas<\/p>\n Hagg~Folin<\/p>\n Hart<\/p>\n McKenna<\/p>\n Minnesota Wild<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Zucker~Koivu~Granlund<\/p>\n Greenway~Staal~Niederreiter<\/p>\n Parise~Coyle~Kunin<\/p>\n Brown~Eriksson Ek~Foligno<\/p>\n Suter~Spurgeon<\/p>\n Brodin~Pateryn<\/p>\n Seeler~Prosser<\/p>\n Dubnyk<\/p>\n Stalock<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In 1993, the same year the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas; Congress held hearings about the controversial Sega CD<\/em> game Night Trap<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n More on that in a little bit.<\/p>\n 11 years earlier, the Atari<\/em> released the game E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial<\/em>\u00a0based on the blockbuster Steven Spielberg<\/strong> movie for their ever popular Atari 2600<\/em> game console.\u00a0 The game was considered to be such a major disappointment it almost single-handedly was blamed for the video game crash as outraged gamers swore off their system over the feeling of being exploited. Atari<\/em> was so embarrassed by the game it literally buried 800,000 games in an Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill<\/a>.\u00a0 I wonder if that level of shame the Minnesota Wild felt about its game against Detroit on Saturday?<\/p>\n If not, it should have been that ashamed.\u00a0 In a game Wild Head Coach Bruce Boudreau<\/strong> called the “worst game he has coached since he’s been here”, Minnesota was thoroughly outplayed, outcompeted and outworked by a Detroit team that was on the 2nd game of a back to back.\u00a0 Instead the Wild looked like the tired, mostly unmotivated club and was completely dominated in a 5-2 loss.\u00a0 Team alternate captain Ryan Suter<\/strong> said, “They were skating. We weren’t…we seem to play our best when we’re playing the best. We have to change that.”\u00a0 Really Ryan?\u00a0 Isn’t that what you and your teammates are paid thousands or even millions of dollars per year to do?\u00a0 As a friend of mine who is in the audio engineer profession says, you’re only as good as your last show.\u00a0 So how good is this Wild team, really?<\/p>\n That’s the question Wild fans are mulling out loud via social media or into local radio shows.\u00a0 With a team that can beat one of the best teams in the Central Division one night and then after a day of rest play so poorly against one of the worst teams in the league at home you really wonder if this team is just a glorified pretender.\u00a0 And by pretender, I mean to even make the playoffs.\u00a0 Very few fans seem to think this team is anything but a one-and-done playoff team at best<\/em>.\u00a0 Ouch.<\/p>\n The team’s scoring struggles, due in large part the underperformance of many of its highly paid forwards save Zach Parise<\/strong> and Mikael Granlund<\/strong> have meant the team hasn’t provided enough goal support for Devan Dubnyk<\/strong> to win games on a consistent basis.\u00a0 While Charlie Coyle<\/strong> and Jason Zucker<\/strong> have had flashes of improved play recently, both are still not finding the back of the net with enough frequency to make a difference.\u00a0 Eric Staal<\/strong> has been stone cold and looks tired despite leading the team in shots on goal with 133.<\/p>\n On defense, Suter may be the team’s top scoring defenseman but that might be due to point inflation as 18 of his 28 points are secondary assists.\u00a0 I am sure Ryan Suter apologists would love to ‘bury’ that fact.\u00a0 The real offensive workhorse in the absence of Matthew Dumba<\/strong> is Jared Spurgeon<\/strong> who has 17 primary points (goals and primary assists) out of his 26 total points.\u00a0 The rest of the Wild blueline simply hope not to make any costly mistakes rather than chipping in offensively.\u00a0 Dubnyk will likely get the start since the Wild have a day of rest and I think Boudreau will probably use Alex Stalock<\/strong> tomorrow against Los Angeles.<\/p>\n On the flip side, I’d expect Carter Hart<\/strong> to get the start against the Wild since he’s really the best goalie the Flyers’ have.\u00a0 Philadelphia is coming off a 3-2 loss to regional rival New Jersey on Saturday.\u00a0 The Flyers are 1-7-2 in their last 10 games and can’t wait for this nightmare of a season end.\u00a0 ‘New’ Flyers General Manager Chuck Fletcher<\/strong> has his work cut out for him as his team will likely be looking to trade some veterans as they look to rebuild.<\/p>\n Yet, the Flyers still have some dangerous weapons.\u00a0 Claude Giroux<\/strong> is having a strong season and has the ability to create offensive chances on his own.\u00a0 Jakub Voracek<\/strong> is a skilled set up man if you give him time and space to work with.\u00a0 Sean Couturier<\/strong>, who once heard his name called in St. Paul at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft had a hot start offensively but has cooled off but is one of the better defensive forwards on the team.\u00a0 And when motivated Wayne Simmonds<\/strong> can be quite the handful in and around the net.<\/p>\n On the blueline, the Flyers have some quality puck moving defenseman in Ivan Provorov<\/strong> and Shane Gostisbehere<\/strong> who are legit threats from the point.\u00a0 The rest of their defense is youthful with a dose of physicality as hitting machine Radko Gudas<\/strong> and former Wild defenseman Christian Folin<\/strong> will no doubt want to light up some of his former peers.<\/p>\n