Minnesota Wild (16-13-3) 35pts 5th in the Central
2.84 Goals For (11th)
2.75 Goals Against (21st)
14.2% Power Play (26th)
86.6% Penalty Kill (4th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 13G 14A = 27pts
2. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 7G 17A = 24pts
3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 21A = 22pts
4. #26 Thomas Vanek ~ 5G 15A = 20pts
5. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 14G 3A = 17pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #6 Marco Scandella ~ 38 PIM’s
2. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 28 PIM’s
3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 25 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (11-10-0) 2.64GAA .901%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (5-3-3) 2.58GAA .901%SP
Vs.
Winnipeg Jets (18-10-7) 43pts 4th in the Central
2.46 Goals For (23rd)
2.23 Goals Against (3rd)
15.6% Power Play (22nd)
85.1% Penalty Kill (8th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #16 Andrew Ladd ~ 11G 14A = 25pts
2. #26 Blake Wheeler ~ 10G 15A = 25pts
3. #18 Bryan Little ~ 13G 10A = 23pts
4. #33 Dustin Byfuglien ~ 8G 11A = 19pts
5. #55 Mark Schiefele ~ 6G 13A = 19pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #33 Dustin Byfuglien ~ 53 PIM’s
2. #9 Evander Kane ~ 46 PIM’s
3. #26 Blake Wheeler ~ 45 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #31 Ondrej Pavelec (10-8-5) 2.34GAA .913%SP 1SO
2. #34 Michael Hutchinson (8-2-2) 1.67GAA .944%SP 1SO
If you watched either your local or national news yesterday, you will have seen stories about the mad rush of shoppers who ventured out to either make exchanges or to take advantage of post-Christmas sales. During the NBC Nightly News they interviewed one shopper who was out making ten exchanges on gifts she had received. I cannot imagine having to exchange that many gifts. Either her family or friends are horrible at picking out sizes/colors or she’s just incredibly self-centered and doesn’t appreciate the thought that went into those gifts. The only gift I had to return was the sleeve that was purchased for the new computer I’m typing on. It appears that Amazon and/or its merchant wasn’t correct in the dimensions and there was no way it was going to work. Even better, I didn’t have to do any of the leg work for the exchange as my brother-in-law’s wife simply hopped on Amazon, purchased the larger size, and took the one that didn’t work to ship back. But then perhaps the woman that was interviewed for that segment wasn’t like my family, in that we generally ask spouses and siblings what to get people for Christmas in the hope that we pick up something that they could really use.
If you remember my last entry, I posted a list of unwanted Christmas gifts when it comes to the Minnesota Wild. I’m guessing that based on the way the Wild played on Tuesday night, they left a few of those unwanted gifts behind. Now I will admit, I did not watch that game, and from all accounts, it sounds like that was a wise decision on my part. Spending time with my family was the far better choice than spending it with the Wild. Instead of gifting their fans with some holiday cheer, they left us feeling more Ebeneezer Scrooge instead of Tiny Tim. I do know that when Derek came downstairs from the upstairs TV room at my mom’s house, he was far from amused with how Minnesota played. There’s a reason why December is often unkind to the Minnesota Wild, and usually, they have no one to blame but themselves. It’s as if they don’t really care during the month of December. Yet what they need to remember is that while December is often a packed month, it is often a month critical to the season as a whole. If the Wild fail to make the playoffs, they only need to look back to this month to answer their questions as to what happened. Perhaps the Wild could a visit from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future. Instead they get Aunt Clara delivering the horrible pink Easter Bunny costume/pajamas.
I’m going to be honest, and perhaps brutally so. I have no real hope for Minnesota tonight. Considering how they’ve played this month and how Winnipeg has turned their season around from last season, it’s not going to be a pretty home-and-home. Even worse, is Winnipeg’s fans travel, and the “short” drive down on a holiday weekend will mean their fans will turn out in force tonight in Saint Paul. In fact, it could feel more like a home game for Winnipeg, especially if they dominate tonight’s game. Unless the Wild come out determined to control the game for its entirety, it’s going to be a long night for the home crowd. And while it sounds like management has no intentions of making any trades or firing anyone in hockey operations, that just might be the best thing to happen. This team desperately needs a shake up (or shake down) in order to wake up the entire team. Currently, there are too many people involved with this team that feel overly comfortable with their respective position. Hockey is a results oriented business. In any other job, when you don’t perform and don’t show a desire to perform (or improve), you are often sent packing. Why should the Minnesota Wild be any different? Yet while we continue to ask that, it proves that for some reason it is different. That just might be the most frustrating part of it all.
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