I don’t think anyone likes the playoff structure and Central gets boned by it. Central has both WC spots almost every season for about 10 years now.
Anyone besides Bettman. Yeah the Pacific Division hasnt sent more than 3 teams in a long time now.
For how many years did the Penguins and Capitals meet in the second round? I swear that matchup occurred every year for like 5 straight seasons with this current format.
For how many years did the Penguins and Capitals meet in the second round? I swear that matchup occurred every year for like 5 straight seasons with this current format.
Similar to TB and Tor in first round.
Fans are dogging Greenway for his game last night, but I thought it was decent. Foligno was noticeable too. Dumba can sit. He was atrocious last night.
I thought Greenway looked great in the 1st period, he was buzzing, getting in on the forecheck fast and hard, causing problems. I don’t remember seeing as much of that in the 2nd/3rd periods though.
4th line seemed to get a lot of ice time last night, I don’t know how to look it up easily by game, but for a game with like no penalties in the last 35 minutes, there were long stretches where I didn’t see the Fiala line. Can’t blame him necessarily.
On another note, looking at the Kings series and I’m reminded that Anze Kopitar is still playing. Seems like he should be older than 34? Brings back fond memories of the 2005 draft. Wild had #4 overall pick, even though we finished like 11th overall or something the previous year I think.
We sure struck gold there, ‘with the 4th pick in the 2005 NHL draft, the Wild select Benoit Pouliot!’ Benoit tallied 18 total points in a Wild uniform over 4 seasons. Not that it was a super deep draft class, but man does it suck to completely whiff on a top 5 pick.
Some notables taken after him:
– Carey Price
– Anze Kopitar
– Marc Staal
– T.J. Oshie
– Tukka Rask
I know draft misses are a dime a dozen, but that’s the 2nd highest overall pick the Wild have ever had(of course we had #3 pick and selected Gaborik in 2001).
I don’t comment much but read your guys posts every day as some of you are truly knowledgeable.
Flurry has so far been a complete bust. As mentioned he has not stole a game in the series yet and that is what he was brought in to do. Comparing what he has done to what some of the other playoff goalies are doing, is subpar, not just in this series. Goalie was supposed to be our strength this series but Flurry has been outplayed. Hopefully Cam gets his shot on Thursday. The team needs a wake up of some kind.
Middelton lost that game last night, I did not expect him to be a “puss” on that play and let the offensive player get by him with out any effort and then the easy pass/score. The same problem with all the Wild’s D. They are midgets and afraid to hit or take a hit and surely can’t clean out in front of the net. If the Wild do not address the midget problem on defense they will never go anyplace in playoffs.
In looking back at the season and all the miracles that were pulled off, the Wild really aren’t as good as their record. So we probably should just be happy they made the playoffs and had a great season for us to enjoy, as the years ahead will probably be a little tougher.
Nobody I know wanted this match up with the Blues. For whatever reason it’s never been a good one for the Wild. You have to give the Blues credit. They have won two out of the three games here so far. They won a crucial game on their home ice with the better half of their D corp not on the ice.
The Blues are going to do everything they can to end this tomorrow night I’m sure they’d rather not come back here but I don’t think they are afraid to either. It could be they are just the better team.
Yeah we all knew a VERY good team was going to be golfing after this series. Hopefully its not us, but right, I wasnt looking forward to this matchup Rd1. Heck, Id rather face Colorado I think.
I don’t comment much but read your guys posts every day as some of you are truly knowledgeable.
Flurry has so far been a complete bust. As mentioned he has not stole a game in the series yet and that is what he was brought in to do. Comparing what he has done to what some of the other playoff goalies are doing, is subpar, not just in this series. Goalie was supposed to be our strength this series but Flurry has been outplayed. Hopefully Cam gets his shot on Thursday. The team needs a wake up of some kind.
Middelton lost that game last night, I did not expect him to be a “puss” on that play and let the offensive player get by him with out any effort and then the easy pass/score. The same problem with all the Wild’s D. They are midgets and afraid to hit or take a hit and surely can’t clean out in front of the net. If the Wild do not address the midget problem on defense they will never go anyplace in playoffs.
In looking back at the season and all the miracles that were pulled off, the Wild really aren’t as good as their record. So we probably should just be happy they made the playoffs and had a great season for us to enjoy, as the years ahead will probably be a little tougher.
Not sure which goalies you are comparing The Flower to in the playoffs but not many if any are standing on their head and stealing games. The wild already chased the Blues starter out.
The Vezina winner has been yanked in back to back games for the Rangers after giving up six last night. Tampa’s all world net minder Vasileskey has an 885 save percentage and a 3.65 goals against. Just look at the scores from last night. 5-1 4-3 5-4. Hell Edmonton put up 8 the other night.
The only goalies that are doing anything worth while are playing each other in the Flames Stars series and that is more do to boring ass game both teams play.
You have to remember when they traded for him the Wild were reeling and Cam was giving up 4 plus every game.
Would Cam be a better option? Maybe. Tough to say. Would the wild have locked up this series up already with Cam? Definitely not.
It’s also weird that nobody talks about the Midget D men for Colorado and how they can’t last or win. I mean Girard is 5’8 on a good day and uses the same size stick as my five year old. Makar is maybe 5’10”.
Would Cam be a better option? Tough to day. Would the wild have locked up this series already with Cam? Definitely not.
I agree. I dont have a crystal ball, but I have a feeling if the wild went with Talbot the series would be done or perhaps we switched to Fleury after 2 games.
Starting Talbot is a question we will never be able to answer but I do know you can’t go to him now in this series. Too far down the road.
If they advance to play the Av’s you start him.
No way I’d ever want to see Colorado in round 1 – they’ve been a round 1 juggernaut for 4 years straight now… never made it past game 5.
There’s nothing special about Wild not matching up against the Blues other than they’re just a legitimately good team. Finished 4 points behind the Wild with 3 less shootout wins… that’s basically a toss up and this series has been a toss up. Last night was the first game the Wild played mostly well overall and didn’t win. Came down to a good play/weird bounce to tie it and then a couple back breaking mistakes to start the 3rd. Just need to win 2 in a row now, which they’ve already done this series.
We will never know because they never decided to put Talbot in there. Its obvious they had made up their minds well before this and they’re sticking to it no matter what now.
I personally think they should have gone to him in game 2. His rebound control would probably have been better, and that’s how St Louis is scoring a lot of their goals. It certainly couldn’t be any worse.
We were also outscoring our goalie deficiencies all season, Cam and/or Kaapo would routinely give up 3,4,5 goals but we’d eventually score 5 or 6.
Thats just not sustainable in the playoffs as checking tightens and everyone sacrifices their body on every shift…
We will never know because they never decided to put Talbot in there. Its obvious they had made up their minds well before this and they’re sticking to it no matter what now.
I personally think they should have gone to him in game 2. His rebound control would probably have been better, and that’s how St Louis is scoring a lot of their goals. It certainly couldn’t be any worse.
There’d be 5 times as many fans complaining why we aren’t playing a HOF/Last years Vezina winner/Multiple cup winning goalie we traded for…
There’d be 5 times as many fans complaining why we aren’t playing a HOF/Last years Vezina winner/Multiple cup winning goalie we traded for…
That’s not what I’m getting at. I’m not saying that Talbot should be in there this entire series. What I’m saying is that they literally never gave him a chance. If you don’t give him a chance, how do you know how well he’d play? Based solely on his record down the stretch, he deserved at least once chance, don’t you think?
We were also outscoring our goalie deficiencies all season, Cam and/or Kaapo would routinely give up 3,4,5 goals but we’d eventually score 5 or 6.
Thats just not sustainable in the playoffs as checking tightens and everyone sacrifices their body on every shift…
Good reminder. Both goalies were below average on the season. Only argument for starting Cam was he was top 10 over the last 2 months. Reason for starting Flower was the pedigree.
I just think the whole goalie argument is overblown – it’s the low hanging fruit for fans to blame.
I just think the whole goalie argument is overblown – it’s the low hanging fruit for fans to blame.
Right, you have to score more than the other team to win. If you dont score at all that isnt the goalie’s fault. Many of the goals the Blues have gotten have been complete flukes. The one Marcus kicked in, then the same game where Zucc just whiffed on a clearing at point blank that went right on the stick of the Blues guy. Last night that 3rd period was beyond bad and why Spurgeon left his assignment with Middleton behind the net is a mystery. Our D has been the strength of this team all year, but they are not playing well sans Brodin.
Last night that 3rd period was beyond bad and why Spurgeon left his assignment with Middleton behind the net is a mystery.
Spurgeon really gonna eat the IDO blame on that goal? It was a 5 man failure and not hard to figure out why he didn’t lock up Vladdy in the slot… his read was obvious breakout, not d-zone coverage. Flower should have played that puck so Spurgeon was going to the corner to be an option. Middelton was going to the other corner. That goal was on a Flower/Sheriff Middelton miscommunication after a terrible turnover by Zuccy.
Ya’ll wanna blame something on Spurgeon look to the Saad goal or the ENG
Did Foligno do a fake baseball swing at a Blues player behind the play last night? Or did I completely dream that up in my head
Did Foligno do a fake baseball swing at a Blues player behind the play last night? Or did I completely dream that up in my head
he did, probably because the guy got a soft glove punch to the face but acted like he got shot…
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Last night that 3rd period was beyond bad and why Spurgeon left his assignment with Middleton behind the net is a mystery.Spurgeon really gonna eat the IDO blame on that goal? It was a 5 man failure and not hard to figure out why he didn’t lock up Vladdy in the slot… his read was obvious breakout, not d-zone coverage. Flower should have played that puck so Spurgeon was going to the corner to be an option. Middelton was going to the other corner. That goal was on a Flower/Sheriff Middelton miscommunication after a terrible turnover by Zuccy.
Ya’ll wanna blame something on Spurgeon look to the Saad goal or the ENG
Spurg has to take a good chunk of the blame on that goal, but absolutely not all of it (Greenway could have held the Blue up more, Middleton could have hustled more, I dont think it was shot in hard enough for Fleury to safely play it, there likely would have been a 3 player collision behind the net) but Spurg cant assume anything on that play, especially at the cost of leaving Tarasenko alone in the crease. The likely play was for Middleton to just rim it around and up the boards to the wing or eat it into the far corner.
I’m glad you mentioned the Saad goal, that was a pisspore boxout effort… the empty netter is a meh to me, he had limited options, obviously should have dumped it down low vs trying the between the legs pass near the blueline…
Just think it’s crazy to single out Spurgeon on that Tarasenko goal. That was a scramble where the whole team looked like they had no clue what was going on. Throwing Spurgeon’s name on it definitely helps the narrative though.
The Saad goal you can at least say it was an obvious defensive play that his guy scored. Took a weird bounce off his shaft and managed to find the 5 hole but it was his guy.
Just think it’s crazy to single out Spurgeon on that Tarasenko goal. That was a scramble where the whole team looked like they had no clue what was going on. Throwing Spurgeon’s name on it definitely helps the narrative though.
The Saad goal you can at least say it was an obvious defensive play that his guy scored. Took a weird bounce off his shaft and managed to find the 5 hole but it was his guy.
if the Greenway holdup or Middleton hustle plays happen then its a simple puck retrieve and breakout…Spurg was the last line of defense and left his man/position so its the last thing we see/remember…
Its been a pattern for Spurg most of the series unfortunately… mental mistakes and frustration…. Uncharacteristic for him…
So Flurry was brought in to be the goalie who could carry a team on his back as he has done before and as other goalies have in the past. However he has not stole a single game and has not had an overall good series, he has given up some softies and left a bunch of really juicy rebounds which is a major problem with our D clearing things out. The 2nd goal by Tarasenko last night he should have stopped, it was crucial that he stop it. There was no one in front of him, he had a clear view all the way. How many times was he down on the ice last night, completely flopping like a crappie.
Speaking of the D, the only time things get cleared out is when the Grief line is on the ice and then it is not the D doing the clearing. After the whistle blows and the skirmish starts, Brodin and Spurgeon are already headed to the bench.
Spurgeon is listed at 5″ 9″ 166lbs. As we all now weights are almost always exaggerated so I doubt he is even 166. The play were Schenn knocked him down behind the goal was classic. That play should be the other way around, but I haven’t seen Spurgeon throw a dozen checks all season and he sure as heck can clear anyone out from in front of the net as 95% of the players are bigger than he is.
Sorry for the rant, but the size and lack of D physicality on this team has always been a major problem.
Dean has came out and said it was a complete collapse by the whole line on that goal. Stated their was miscommunication between flower and Middleton. As in Middleton thought flower was going to play the puck.
Again with the small d men nobody seams to think the AVs d are too small. Girard is no bigger than Spurg listed at 170. Makar is listed at 5’10”.
I have stood next to Spurg without his gear on he is at least 165lbs.
Either way Spurg isn’t going anywhere for a while.
Joe I think you forget that he was a stud in games 2 and 3.
Starting to remind me of previous years, blaming matchups, fluke goals, better goal tending, blah, blah, blah. Sure hope we win the next two so we don’t have to go through this again.
To be clear, even if we don’t win, I will remain optimistic on this team. I like the leadership and direction we are going. Will certainly be disappointed though.
What a choke job by the Caps, they were up 3-0 tonight, give up 5 straight…
if the Greenway holdup or Middleton hustle plays happen then its a simple puck retrieve and breakout…Spurg was the last line of defense and left his man/position so its the last thing we see/remember…
This was mainly why I was picking on Spurgeon. There were photos posted online where Middleton was behind the net and spurgeon left the netfront with a guy wide open in the slot. Sure there was a ton of a lot of things going on, but a veteran player should know not to leave his responsibility.
Hey can we talk about face offs? Wild were 50% last game! 
Hey can we talk about face offs? Wild were 50% last game!
One thing Ive noticed is that Hartman has been better on faceoffs. I mentioned it during the regular season that he seemed disinterested, but now it seems he is more focused. Id like to see more out of him though.
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