MN Wild 2016-17 – Official thread.

the wild have a lot of D-guys, just not good ones Take away Spurg, Suter and Brodin and we just have a bunch of guys in wild jerseys

The Blues have Parayko, the rest are fillers.

mplspug wrote:

Most pundits are picking Hawks v. Caps…way to go out on a limb.

It’s pretty clear that the Blackhawks are the class of the Western Conference And an Easy Pick to win it all, The Capitols in the East still have to prove they are that good.

Edmonton is about to start their first run at many Stanley Cup Championships, they should get to the conference championship game and are the only Western Conference threat to the Blackhawks.

The Penguins would have to be conSydered to have a great shot at repeating if they weren’t so banged up entering the playoffs. If they get through the first round and get some key players back Look out!

So if then the Penguins get past the Capitols, they will be the only threat to the Blackhawks 2017 Stanley Cup Championship.

Wow, lots of fast coaching moves in the league. Ruff fired at Dallas. Hitchcock hired by Dallas.

Will be interesting to get down to business tonight. Very difficult to predict this series.

The Wild need to threaten across all 4 lines as they did through most of the season. Test the Blues D early and often and I think playing with a lead is going to be the key to this series. If the Wild can force St. Louis to lean into the o-zone hard, we can burn them with speed.

Big night tonight.

Grouse

The Caps will collapse again, Pitt doesn’t stand a chance, and the Hawks are not getting out of the first round. There you go, WILD win the cup

Edmonton is young and this is the first playoffs in a long time. McDavid can’t win it on his own, even though he does have a good supporting class. Not to mention this is Talbot’s first playoffs. There is a lot of pressure on them and I don’t see them doing anything this year.

Had McDavid been healthy last year and they made the playoffs, then I would be picking the Oilers to make it to the conference final.

sticker wrote:

The Caps will collapse again, Pitt doesn’t stand a chance, and the Hawks are not getting out of the first round. There you go, WILD win the cup

Packers by 9
Go Pack Go!!!!!!

mplspug wrote:

Edmonton is young and this is the first playoffs in a long time. McDavid can’t win it on his own

Yes they are young,McDavid will lead them through the first two rounds,They will win at least as many or even more rounds than than the Wild will this Year.

Edmonton is a sexy pick, but I don’t think they are ready for prime time yet. McDavid is unreal, but their Defense leaves lots to be desired.
I’m interested to see what the Leafs can pull of this year. They have some young studs on that team. 3 guys, rookies at that, with 60 pts!? Ridiculous.
That team is going to be a force for years and with Babcock behind the bench they are going up and fast.
It sure would be nice if a Canadian team won. Preferably not the Canadiens. For some reason I don’t particularly care for that team. Not sure why. I will be cheering for Edmonton and Toronto though. Ottawa I don’t think has much of a shot.

Wow, what a shift by Zuckers line with about 4 minutes left in the second. Coyle was robbed by Allen! What a save.

I am surprised by how good the blues defense is. Still, I know Allen and I know Yeo. We got this.

If the wild are going to play just a finesse game and not get physical, they will lose the series. Still a lot of hockey, but Wild need to start finishing checks. Old time hockey. Eddie Shore.

Playing a pretty good game. Just can’t finish.

Zack ties it 1-1 with 22 seconds left.
Headed to overtime.

Nighty night.

Hmm, hope this isn’t one of those epic 3 overtime games. I’d like to be in bed by 3.

Allen won that game.

If the Wild play like that every night and they will go far. That was 60+ minutes of solid effort. If Allen faces that every night he’s going to be tired by game 3.

You could see the wild finally start to tire at the 10-8 minute mark of overtime.

I still want to see them get more physical.

I am pretty happy considering it was a loss. I was concerned which wild would show up for the Playoffs.

Well, there is no doubt about it that Allen won that game for the Blues. I liked what I saw from the Wild except for Parise’s save. But at least he made up for it with the tying goal. Crazy game, but I like their chances going forward. I have a feeling Friday won’t be so nice for Allen and the Blues. Just gotta bury that puck!

I didn’t get to watch but I heard it in the radio. Seems that everyone thinks the Wild played a solid game. The obvious wild card was in net.

I’m going to say it til my face turns blue. Your goalie needs to steal 1-2 games every round to be successful in the playoffs. Everyone says a superstar can win you games in the playoffs. I say bs unless your superstar is the goalie.

Allen stole the first one. Hopefully Doobs steals the next one otherwise I’m getting worried.

That was the best game the Wild have played in months. Glad to see the effort, but man oh man. Why is it that we seem to run into these hot goalies in the playoffs?
Folin had a bad game. Very bad in fact. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bartley replaces him next game.
90 shot attempts by the Wild? Games like this that end in a loss are demoralizing.

That was frustrating for sure, but the good news is the wild got out-lucked, not outplayed. I hope the Blues don’t change a thing because if you keep giving up 40+ SOG in 3 periods, you’re going to get burned. Doesn’t matter how hot your goalie is, what happened to us in OT will happen to the Blues. Sooner or later the puck will land where the goalie ain’t.

Don’t change a thing. It isn’t a 1 game series.

Grouse

I don’t know that I’d put that win on Jake Allen. There were opportunities and rebounds to be had. The Blue’s net front D put that game in the win column. They disrupted several Grade A scoring chances with good sticks, positioning, clears, etc.

Parise saved 1 sure goal for Allen…. seemed most shots were taken at his glove ? He played a good game but can be beat. We got this in 6.

big_g wrote:

Parise saved 1 sure goal for Allen…. seemed most shots were taken at his glove ? He played a good game but can be beat. We got this in 6.

5!!!

tegg wrote:

The Blue’s net front D put that game in the win column.

Yes, but I’m not sure it was the net front D or the net front luck. Lots of rebounds landed right where St. Louis needed them to land last night. I’d rather minimize the shots and shot quality rather then hope to get lucky on minimizing second chances.

The Wild need to unleash more Dumba “cup cracker” shots and see how committed the Blues are to feeling the pain. Also, with 50+ sogs, you’re going to get a “pinball” shot to go in.

I have no doubt we are going to see many more screens, blocker side shots, and back-door crashes in the next game. Allen likes to use the glove, so next game there’s going to be a lot of shots heading for his stick shaft right above the blocker and/or his right ear.

As I said, that game was encouraging because the Wild didn’t get outplayed, just out-lucked.

Grouse

…then I guess they have been getting “lucky” over the last 1/4 of the season because they were the best defensive hockey team in the NHL over that span. Luck has nothing to do with it. Their D kept (along with the hottest goaltender in hockey…) us at bay with a smothering defense that got them into the playoffs. The fans in the know knew this was going to be a defensive battle from the get-go and after 1 game that is exactly what we have seen. I still say Wild in 5 or 6…RR

biggill wrote:

I’m going to say it til my face turns blue. Your goalie needs to steal 1-2 games every round to be successful in the playoffs. Everyone says a superstar can win you games in the playoffs. I say bs unless your superstar is the goalie.

BS…A goalie may win you one,a scorer will win you several and it takes 4

I’m going to say it til my face turns blue. You have to have a scorer who can lead a team through close games, someone who can score an important goal or set up another to do the same.

mplspug wrote:

If the Wild play like that every night and they will go far. That was 60+ minutes of solid effort. If Allen faces that every night he’s going to be tired by game 3.

Only in Minnesota, or a Minnesotan transplant, will take solace in a loss and be happy about, that is exactly why they are always losing in the Playoffs so consistently.

I’d take those stats with a grain of salt. Look at who they played over that stretch. Half of those games were against Colorado and Arizona.

Yes their defense did play very well, but there were also several instances like Haula’s pocket picking and the clear onto Staal’s stick as well.

I just want the Wild to play 60 minutes like they did yesterday, because it was very encouraging.

jeff_huberty wrote:

Only in Minnesota, or a Minnesotan transplant, will take solace in a loss and be happy about, that is exactly why they are always losing in the Playoffs so consistently.

I had no idea my attitude had such an effect on the universe.

As long as we are stereotyping MN sports “fans”, get out a mirror.

mplspug wrote:

I just want the Wild to play 60 minutes like they did yesterday, because it was very encouraging.

That was a Seventy Seven Minute game, the other team played.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jeff_huberty wrote:</div>
Only in Minnesota, or a Minnesotan transplant, will take solace in a loss and be happy about, that is exactly why they are always losing in the Playoffs so consistently.

I had no idea my attitude had such an effect on the universe.

As long as we are prototypical MN sports “fan”, get out a mirror.

jeff_huberty wrote:

That was a Seventy Seven Minute game, the other team played.

I know, but the Wild will only need to play like that for 60 minutes for the rest of the series.

The Blues must be the Ali of the NHL, because the Wild played 70 minutes yesterday and once they tired it was anyone’s game.