Ugly

Went to the Wild game last night. It was plain ugly. Every man from Yeo to Kuemper laid down after going up 3-0. Hope some line changes are in store. It is obvious that Yeo needs help in motivating this team. Bad night.

Gundy

Practice today won’t be much fun…

I was there too. Yeo was changing lines all game. Thought maybe Lemaire was coaching, but if he were coaching we most likely would have won. My son called it about a minute after they went up by three. Said they are going to blow the lead. I said if they lose they are going to do their regular late season collapse. I sure hope that doesn’t happen. I think that tomorrow’s game will tell which direction the team is headed. I will be there for that game too. If they lose, I’m glad someone already paid big money for my penguin tickets. I’m a Koivu fan, but since he has come back he won’t shoot the puck. Grandlund should have maybe been out there for the last powerplay. Grandlund has a real knack for putting the puck on people’s sticks in front of the net.

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Went to the Wild game last night. It was plain ugly. Every man from Yeo to Kuemper laid down after going up 3-0. Hope some line changes are in store. It is obvious that Yeo needs help in motivating this team. Bad night.

Gundy

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I was there as well. I’m not kidding, as soon as the Wild went up 3-0, I turned to the person I took to the game and said, “This is bad. If they don’t get another goal, this will get ugly.”

And they didn’t get another goal. And it WAS ugly.

It was a completely obvious case of quitting to play after 1 period when you have a “big” lead and you CANNOT do that in the NHL. Every team in the league is capable of scoring 3 goals in two periods if you let them.

Really a poor effort and exactly the kind of game the Wild cannot afford to repeat. They pulled this crap last year of failing to get up for “should win” games and then ended up dragging buttski into the playoffs and getting matched against the best team in hockey in the first round.

I know there’s some new moving parts in the org with late trades, etc, but the Wild need to focused. This is not a Yeo issue, it’s a player leadership issue and Koivu and the A-caps need to put a rocket up the other player’s backsides and get the locker room in order. This is where player leadership and the captains are supposed to step up and get the team on track. Yeo isn’t playing the game and it was the players who fell down last night.

Grouse

The Wild were do for a response game anyway.

I think it is time for Yeo to have a talk with Sydor. Just because Suter can play 30+ minutes, it doesn’t mean he should play that many. Yeo might also want to consider more ice time for Haula and Fontaine, even at the expense of some veterans.

I do think that they are going to start clicking again offensively. I think the key will be the defense. We can’t have guys like Scandella, Ballard even Suter turning the puck over or icing the puck. They need to develop that stretch pass again.

We’ll see how these next 2 games go. For now I am reserving my panic.

The start of the game was brutal for defensive zone turnovers. I think in the first 3 minutes there were 5. You shouldn’t have that many in a entire game in your own zone. They settled down after that. Just stopped skating after the lead and kind of went into prevent mode. Power play makes me nuts with few, or no shots, and looking for the perfect play.

I hate it when they quit skating and go into that dumping mode. No creative offense that for sure!! Also I hate it when they are skating right to the net and then pass it. Finish the play!!

Gundy

Get back to us when they even make the playoffs AND win the first round…otherwise…

Well that wasn’t much of a response. I’ve seen this one played out before. Guys squeezing the stick and not burying chances. Hopefully they play harder and with swagger on Saturday.

For sure!! They were lucky tonight. I am real frustrated with their play. Certainly not a well oiled machine. I guess we will just keep plugging along.

Gundy