Confrontational

Not sure if rooting for anyone tonight - more or less watching to see if Florida can actually pull this off... Like it when the games are on TNT versus ESPN (who hates hockey and gives them little coverage)...

I happened to be in Vegas for meetings last week and bought tickets for Vegas game 1 - was insane... I had 4 season tickets to the Wild for probably 5 years - my how times have changed and the arena atmosphere - the pre and post Vegas game was an absolute event... I've been watching a lot of other teams come playoffs - have been very surprised how the top teams have been knocked off... Thought for sure Boston or the Avs would have made it far - also surprised by the normal playoff teams that never made it to the dance (Was, Pitts, etc)... I saw somewhere that viewership was up like 13% this year - figure that might be because most games are on TBS...

Foligno has accrued 35 penalty minutes so far in the Wild's series against Dallas: - 5 minor penalties (10 min) - 2 misconducts (20 mins) - 1 five minute major (5 mins) Tough series for one of the better defensive forwards... And with Dallas coming in with the most face-off wins and power play goals - it certainly doesn't help when players are scrambling being a man down constantly...

Do those refs travel with the series...? Or will there be different refs in Dallas...? Man, someone should be talking to them... Dallas had a couple the other night that I'm like "what?!?" - so maybe they just suck for both teams...? Obviously these refs should not be determining a series and letting people play until they push it too far - but no doubt Folingno pissed one of them off...

I thought the speed of yesterdays game was very different from the prior ones... They seemed very reserved on both sides...

A couple questions/observations: Is it just in the playoffs that ref can review a play - determine it was not a major penalty and then assign more penalties...? I noticed at least 2 times that Suter absolutely cross check Krill - one in front of the net which was cheap - but there was another one earlier where the puck was 50ft away and Super just fricken played into him with a cross check - cheap as hell - but a very different style of his older years... I absolutely loved Dallas' Robertson - puts in a 2% effort the whole night and was unnoticeable - then dishes by his box to make a line change - and gets destroyed... Man - that was awesome. "Hey guys, here's why you don't stop on the play." He was supposedly their superstar and something must have been very off for him last night because he was invisible - maybe he's hurt... But watching him get laid on his a$$ cause me to rewind a few times... There were a few penalties on both side I absolutely didn't agree with - made me flash back a decade or so where each and every playoff game those refs were deciding horrible calls against MN... There were also quite a few non calls that I think MN could have easily been called for. Got some tired MN fans this morning no doubt... Good game - I didn't think MN was going to pull it off - but I was wrong...

Can anyone bring me up to speed on this Boldy guy...? He's got like 30 goals - so was curious if he played most of the games this year, if he was injured for a spell, etc... Playoff hockey is absolutely the best - the trick will be jumping around to all the games... Good luck tonight...!

Horrible imo...

Kap is 3rd in penalty minutes - that kind of surprised me... Good luck tonight...

First game last night - first time ever seeing someone getting a penalty from their bench... Also thought the now fully digitized board advertising was a bit annoying (don't care about changing images - but now they put animations on it and found that distracting as someone is breaking out)... Anyways, they had their chances last night that's for sure... Not a good outcome - but pretty intense game at times with Wild opportunities...

^^ The article after that one - on Dumba - left me a little bewildered at how well Dumba did this year...

Adding to that - the number of games that went to OT as well...

Was going to post this a while back - but figured people would think I was just piling on Dumba... Not sure if they keep these stats - but noticed it in the regular season and very much in the playoffs every game - and that was the number of turnovers from Dumba on the breakout - as he mostly tried to just bang it up the boards. In one of the PO games I counted 5 - each leading to obviously a turnover in our zone - and the Blues regrouping for an attack... I don't recall him doing that much in past years or I would have noticed - but this year - it happened a lot - and watching it happen each game several times... Fiala was another one who caught my eye regarding turnovers... A skilled player - you bet - but the amount of turnovers on just normal plays seemed to happen a lot with him for some reason - even though he had decent numbers this year - makes you wonder what his numbers could have been... And now we're kind of right back into a goal tending dilemma as well - we have to worry about Talbot for #1 and few options to groom another #2 like what they had - all the while hoping Talbot stays after next year...

Spurgeon @ $7.6m/yr - holy buckets... And for another 5+ years...

This is going to be a tough one...

Has the Wild set a record for # of OTs or wins by 1 goal...? Every time I catch their score - seems like they went to OT - and every other time seems like they win by one point...

Whoa - Montreal has as many loses as Wild wins... My how they have fallen from the stanley cup final last year...

Matt Dumba – Left Tuesday's game against Nashville with what looked like a shoulder injury. After the game, coach Dean Evason said the injury doesn't look good, which suggests that Dumba could be out for a while.

I thought Pitt looked gassed tonight - thought for sure in the 3rd the Wild would run them over... Nice to see the thank you to Zucker - although when he got hurt I heard the announcer say this was his first game in like 3 months or something... Exciting game - and some tough teams ahead - not to mention a few back-to-back and everything else pretty much every other day - lets see if they can stay healthy...

Well, you got me watching a few more Wild games now days... Ugh - the years I was tormented yet still watched most games down here in TX - like 12 years until Vegas took Tuch and Haula... My parents have not watched the Wild in many many years - they moved back to MN a few years back - dad on a call last weekend: "You see this #44 - man, I like this guy." Needless to say - he order Center Ice because of it... So, putting together a competitive team has its benefits ($)... Can't help but wonder what Parise or Sutter think when they catch highlights of the team they were so integral in - get competitive the second they were run out of town (unfortunately those two are have the last laugh)... Only concern now is that the Wild stay healthy - playing every other day now - injuries don't have time to heal... Oh, sorry, and my reason for this post - my dad had no idea who #97 was... Kinda funny... Nor did he know of the noose #11 and #20 have in the years to come on the club...

I think Vegas had 9 players out last night - and I'm talking their top players - geeesh (hey, I know, lets put two D guys together, one with 6 NHL games and one having his first game - that should work well)... Their GM regarding trade dedline: "we didn't make any major moves - our best move is to just get healthy and stay healthy." Every time I watch them - I'm like, "ok, so who's this person?" Anyways, fun game guys - and #44 looks like he's going to add some value to the Wild...

Good luck with Fluery - hopefully better chemistry with MN than Chicago... I was kind of hoping Vegas got him back - but no dice... Good luck tonight...

Had to spend time explaining to a non-hockey fan last night why the Wild pulled their goalie with so much time on the clock... Almost paid off...

Idiot for $500 Alex...

To believe the Canadiens have fallen this far this year - it's kind of shocking... Don't know much about them - what was the big change that happened to them this year...? They're in last place of all 32 teams - jeeeezus...