Minnesota Wild (11-4-4) 26pts 3rd in the Central
2.53 Goals For (20th)
2.00 Goals Against (3rd)
22.2% Power Play (T-4th)
77.8% Penalty Kill (27th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 9G 7A = 16pts
2. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 11G 3A = 14pts
3. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 2G 11A = 13pts
4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 2G 10A = 12pts
5. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 11A = 11pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 32 PIM's
2. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 20 PIM's
3. #39 Nate Prosser ~ 19 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #37 Josh Harding (10-2-2) 1.21GAA .947%SP 2SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (1-1-2) 3.30GAA .874%SP
3. #35 Darcy Kuemper (0-1-0) 5.63GAA .571%SP
Vs.
Florida Panthers (4-11-4) 12pts 7th in the Atlantic
2.05 Goals For (27th)
3.32 Goals Against (28th)
9.1% Power Play (29th)
79% Penalty Kill (24th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #14 Tomas Fleischmann ~ 3G 9A = 12pts
2. #51 Brian Campbell ~ 2G 8A = 10pts
3. #11 Jonathan Huberdeau ~ 3G 6A = 9pts
4. #24 Brad Boyes ~ 6G 2A = 8pts
5. #16 Alexander Barkov ~ 4G 4A = 8pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #44 Erik Gudbranson ~ 51 PIM's
2. #7 Dmitri Kulikov ~ 29 PIM's
3. #17 Jesse Winchester ~ 25 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #34 Tim Thomas (3-5-0) 3.08GAA .905%SP
2. #25 Jacob Markstrom (1-5-3) 3.36GAA .877%SP
3. #30 Scott Clemensen (0-1-1) 3.09GAA .877%SP
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On Wednesday, the Minnesota Wild were pushed around and played like an intimidated hockey team. Whether it was Nazem Kadri delivering a head hit to Niklas Backstrom with little to no response or other cheap shots being dealt without any answer by the Wild. Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo acknowledged the superior team toughness of the Maple Leafs, but then said, "Between the whistles and the way we fought through this game and found a way to win, that's a message too, to your teammates." What kind of message are sending? You are on your own, don't expect your teammates to defend you, as long as we win if you take a high hit then so be it but we won't respond because we might (gasp) get a penalty. Yeo continued his we don't have the toughness argument stating that the Leafs may have started running our star players. Minneapolis Star Tribune's Wild beat writer certainly bought Yeo's slippery slope argument saying the points are more important. I'd say that would make sense if we're talking about soccer, but not hockey. I don't care if there will be reprisals, you always stand up for your teammates. Wild supposed tough guy Matt Cooke said if he knew Backstrom wasn't ok, and since the score was 0-0 they didn't know what the response should be. What?!?! Are you kidding me? Since when did a 0-0 score matter when it comes to standing up for your teammates? With all due respect to Derek Boogaard, pick a different number because the sound you just heard was the sound of a real enforcer rolling in his grave at such a ridiculous and gutless statement. If the Wild needed a lesson on what to do all they had to do was to watch what it did back on April 17th, 2007 when Anaheim's Brad May sucker punched Kim Johnsson. All then Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire did was dispatch his enforcer on the next shift. While Derek Boogaard certainly carried a greater level of threat than does Zenon Konopka, it should be noted that Boogaard never fought anyone at that point, he simply made a little circle towards center ice and then exchanged some heated words just prior to the drop of the puck. No punches thrown or penalties were taken. Oh, and the Wild still won the game too. Yet May's cheap shot still garnered a response, the team didn't just let it go and then hope they could somehow overcome that setback on the scoreboard. Jacques Lemaire, the former Hall of Fame center from the greatest true dynasty the NHL has ever seen knew a message had to be sent. The Canadiens could beat anyone on the scoreboard, but they were not going to be pushovers either. This isn't John Scott going after Phil Kessel, all it would've taken was sending Konopka out there for a similar action to let them know retribution will happen if they keep taking liberties like this. But instead, nothing and Kadri takes a cheap run at Mikael Granlund, another one of the Wild's top 5 scorers. So its better to just lose those players to dirty hits instead of standing up for yourself in an attempt to stop it? Can you get any more sheep-ish than that? Unreal.
Just watch a team that will defend its teammates respond in an appropriate way.
But they didn't do that. They did their best to ignore it, fearing the possible retribution being taken. Mike Yeo takes exception to people calling the team soft. I don't care if he does. If he does what his team did, he'll be afraid of getting a fine or being suspended by the league and he'll just take it. You don't want a few other fans like myself taking shots at his teams toughness by taking me to task over it now would you Mike? Russo might be buying what you're selling, but I'm not. I doubt the feisty minor league journeyman that you were would've been ok with letting Toronto get away with what they did just because they have more tough guys than your team does. Hockey players don't care about that, nor should fans believe such a weak excuse. How will the "beat them on the scoreboard" excuse work when the Wild get knocked around on the ice and the scoreboard? Mike Yeo just gave teams like St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Chicago every reason to just thug it up against the Wild without consequence. Or are we supposed to believe the threat of possible action by Colton Orr or Mark Fraser is far worse than what we'll see against the Blues with Ryan Reaves, Barrett Jackman, and Roman Polak? Charlestown Chiefs General Manager Ed McGrath talked about this rather eloquently in this scene from Slap Shot. The Wild may not be the 'toughest' team in the league, but we don't have to act like we're the weakest one either.
Nazem Kadri was suspended for 3 games by the NHL. That's wonderful. I expected less and I felt NHL Safety Department Brendan Shanahan's explanation was excellent. However the reality for the Wild is they are going to be without Niklas Backstrom for a while which means the majority of the workload will fall on the shoulders of Josh Harding. Harding is playing very well, but with his notable medical concerns still in the background, he'll still need breaks. If the 'upper body' condition most people suspect is a concussion there is no telling how long Backstrom will be out. Johan Gustafsson will have to get a few starts just to give Harding a rest from time to time until Backstrom returns.
Another glaring issue stemming from Wednesday's game was the paltry performance of the club's power play. The Wild put Jason Pominville in the slot, Zach Parise down low beneath the goal line and Mikko Koivu along the half wall with Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon at the point. This made it easy for Toronto's penalty kill to keep the puck away from argably the Wild's hottest goal scorer in Pominville and put a bunch of weak or passive shooters in the positions where they are the most likely to have shooting opportunities. (facepalm) The Wild will hope to re-adjust its power play to make it effective again. Florida's suspect penalty kill should also help the Wild as well.
Florida shipped out its coaching staff a week or so ago, replacing Kevin Dineen with Pete Horachek and former Wild forward John Madden who had been serving the club as a scout now finds himself on the Panthers' bench as an assistant. The Panthers have struggled mightily this season with just 4 wins to its credit but of course one of those victories came athe expense of the Wild. Minnesota cannot overlook this team. Even though the club dispatched Kris Versteeg back to Chicago for 6'6" forward Jimmy Hayes and defenseman Dylan Olsen, its obvious this team is already thinking about next year. Still, you can't play with Sunday's game with Winnipeg on their mind. You have to take care of business against the Panthers first.
Horacheck was a disciple of Predators Head Coach Barry Trotz and I expect the Panthers to embrace an underdog blue-collar approach that made Nashville appear to be more than the sum of its parts. So while Tomas Fleischmann, Brad Boyes and Jonathan Huberdeau may not strike fear but if the Panthers can keep it a low scoring game they have a chance to pull off an upset. Minnesota should be able to comfortably win tonight but we thought the same things a few weeks ago too. Its time for the Wild to play with a bit more snarl so it doesn't get upset again at home.
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