Official Wild Threa – The Playoff Run

As you can see, the Wild are definitely peaking at the right time. Undisputable factual data.

Looking forward to a run to the finals.

Your $50 is in the mail!

Louie says game 1 on the road is the easiest to steal.

And Louie is the man.

Brodziak, Coyle and Haula, exactly what we were looking for. Come on wild!

Exactly what the wild need to do. Frustrate this young team.

PS sorry Michelle, I’ll try and keep it down.

It’s go time!
DT

Hopefully they can tie this series up tonight

MacKinnon is the real deal. Hopefully we can contain him.

Got to see him play in person before he was drafted. He is always the best player on the ice.

If we loose it’s my wifes fault. We scored as she was going down to the basement. I told her she had to stay down there but her woman’s instinct kicked in and she didn’t listen.

Funny how that happens. We scored while mine was vacuuming. When she quit, they scored.

Do I dare tell her to keep cleaning?

3-1. MacKinnon has been the difference. Got to contain him.

Keupmer played very well. I’d hate to say it, I just don’t trust euro goalies in the playoffs.

Prediction: Keupmer gives up one goal in game 3 for a win. He’ ll be the key if we win any more games.

Can’t seem to stop MacKinnon.

Bryz certainly wasn’t standing on his head, hopefully Keumper will. The Avs have made him look very average.

The Wild is not playing defense like they had. They almost look scared when the puck is in our zone and are scrambling in front of our goalie.

The Wild have gotten a lot of chances. They are playing pretty good in the offensive zone.

Someone needs to put a heavy hit on McKinnon and body him every chance they get. I know that’s easier said than done because he is fast, but they need to find a way. He just about lost it when I think Suter hit him behind the net. He charger out of there and nearly took a penalty hitting Suter and Parise in a scrum. I think that’s how it played out, my recollection is a little fuzzy.

I wish the Wild were a little meaner. I think they could get into these kids heads. But these guys are fast AND big on the front end. Maybe they need to pound their defensemen a little more on the dump and chase.

It don’t look good. But the beauty of playoff hockey is things can turn pretty quickly.

Rumor has it Brodziak a scratch along with Veilleux. In Heatley, and Fontaine. Great, Heatley can’t skate with a slow team let alone the Avs, and Fontaine can’t play defense although he couldn’t be much worse than Brodziak has been.

I heard Brodz was a scratch too. Cooke, Fontaine and Haula on the shut down 3rd line. Fontaine may be suspect in the D-Zone, but I am guessing they think at least his speed counters the Avs speed well, especially playing with Haula.

Heatley-McCormick-Nino. Yikes. The good thing is that Yeo gets last change at the X. I like Heater, but I don’t understand bringing him in against a speedy Avs line up that can cash in on turnovers. I think Yeo might be over doing it on that one. I’d rather see Veilleux. Although Heatley does have a little mean streak in him and maybe he can get under someone’s skin.

Wow, what a period. I thought they played with good intensity in the first two games, but that was incredible.

22 sog? Keep hitting, keep shooting. They’ll wear em out.

don’t like our chances in OT. Hope I’m wrong. Good game by wild win or lose.

Granlund – Bobby Orr move revisited. Wowzer, what a battle.

Cooke just cannot put his dirty, cheap shot character to bed. Hope he’s done.

it was quite a game!! Extremely good effort in the O zone, great puck control, which I thought was the key. I sure hope their goalie cools down a bit though!!

I’ll be interested to hear what the NHL has to say. Cooke has to know there are certain open ice hits you can’t make because the other player can change his direction in an instant. If a player is flying through the neutral zone or along the boards, you can line a guy up for a hit more safely.

This ruling will be interesting for a couple reasons. “Clean” Brent Seabrook gets 3 games for deliberately trying to take a guy out with a hit to the head. Cooke hasn’t had an incident in 3 years, yet he still has a reputation and a history to contend with when he talks to the NHL. The NHL immediately offered a in person interview, which on the surface doesn’t bode well for the outcome.

All the NHL mediaheads got what they have been wanting for the last 3 years. They got some red meat. I assume this will put extra pressure on the NHL.

I am guessing he’ll get 5 games.

I agree on about 3-5 games. It was a bone headed play that he had his knee out for so long. He didn’t seem to have the intent to injure due to the fact he seemed to try and absorb the hit just before it happened.

Not good news for Wild fans. We’ll miss some of that much needed grit that put the avs in a standstill.

It’s quite the study in human nature today. There were people that were just waiting for a moment like this.

The question is, why bother reforming or changing? You know it is possible he was not trying to hit him with a knee on knee. Think about that. Crazy.

Awesome game by the Wild and a terrific example of Colorado resuming their usual form: Suspect defense that relies on their goaltending and leans on offense to keep the defense from mattering.

WTG Grandlund and the Wild defense for stuffing the Avs. Colorado was playing cocky and playing lucky. The Wild could have very easily won that game 3-0 in regulation.

Grandlund is a total force out there. He’s like a pitbull with his tail lit on fire. He was dominating his matchups all game, between he and Nino, they had the Avs clutching at straws. It was only a matter of time, you can only play sloppy defense for so long before you lean on your goaltender one time too many.

Cooke, unfortunately, is going to get punished for his reputation rather than what he did in this instance. From the replay, it is clear that this was NOT a “flagrant knee-to-knee” hit as the pundits and anti-Wild media have been labeling it.

The call on the ice was correct. It was a penalty, but it is clear from the replay that Cooke did NOT change direction, nor did he stick out his knee to try to catch the knee of the opponent as is the hallmark of a real deliberate attempt to take out a player with a knee hit. It was a fine acting job and Colorado is just crying because they like to dish out hits but don’t like to take them. MN totally turned the tables on the Avs and now they want to talk about dirty hits. Typical.

But that isn’t going to matter because Cooke has a target on his back and since when does MN get any benefit of the doubt calls from the NHL?

Classic last night when the refs hand goes up and a delayed call on CO. So then they get into a pushing match and when it’s all sorted out, it’s 2 penalties each. Ummmmm, what happened to the original call? Oh, right, the Wild don’t get any calls, it has to be kept even.

Grouse

Good synopsis other than Cooke he most definitely stuck out his knee.

I agree with Pug sort of. He didnt think hey I’m going to knee to knee him. He was all set to kill him legally and then realized he was going to miss the hit and then he stuck the knee out instinctively.

Still hoping for 1 or 2 games which would be fair “to us” when you basically end the season of another player on a cheap-shot bush league move.

Go wild!

Here you go.

His eyes are closed. How can he be targeting anything? The real problem is he was costing into him. He should have just run him over.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Paul-Stewart/The-Snake-the-Wolf-and-the-Cooke/196/59584

I best preface this as not directed at you PB2. I started rambling.

Like I said, this is meat that people have been waiting to see for the last 3 years. Does Cooke deserve it for his past? Maybe.

Personally I think that people have been waiting for this moment for so long that they can’t be objective about it. Everybody likes to be a “I told you soer”. I guess it gives them some sort of validation.

Here’s the litmus test. Watch the video explanation from the NHL horses mouth. Kneeing Descipline Explained
Are you going to say with a straight face that Cooke’s hit was worse than any of those in the video that were deemed to not require subsequent discipline?

Quite frankly I find the vilification of a man who has said he’s changed the way he plays the game a sad statement on society. It’s like a recovering alcoholic of 5 years goes to mass and slips up and drinks the wine with the bread and then the priest looks at him and says, “Once a drunk, always a drunk”. Ok, a wee bit over the top, but you get my point.

I actually root for people who turn their life around and triumph over the demons and mistakes they may have made. Sure it might be a little harder than not going with the crowd, expecting the worse, but by golly, it’s more positive. For me it gets a little tiring swimming in the negativity all the time…

..except when it comes to Sidney Crosby. I hate spud!