lynxrattle

I didn't realise Rangers have been that good. When I've seen them on highlights they haven't looked that good to me, but the stats show they are. I guess last season's restrictions have estranged me from the Rags, where they really are now. High time to see them in a full 60-minute game.

I have a time difference handicap

That Pulju interference brought some memories of Brind'Amour tripping Kurri in the finals of the 1994 IIHF Championships, thus freeing himself to score the tying goal in a one goal game that ended in a Canadian shootout victory. After that I've always felt a vengeful glee when any Finn gets away with murder in a hockey game. (The trip and the goal in about 40 seconds to the clip. Thank God the refs don't allow the amount of interference that plagued hockey back then!)

I'm just following Guerin's mantra: "it's about ****** winning!"

The state of the team is a difficult question, but the state of this fan back then was desperation: "No future, there's no future, no future for you". Fletch had used all the draft picks for rentals, in denial of the fact that the Wild would never win a series against the Hawks, and the best paid players were dictating their TOI, their linemates and which rink they wanted to have their practices in. The change started with Fenton replacing Fletch, Fenton getting rid of the getting nowhere young guard, and then Fenton thrown out for Guerin, who threw out the rotten old guard and the scouts who never picked the right prospects. It was a mess, a cesspool filled with pus, no matter if we managed to get into the playoffs. Philly will get better if the next GM or two are former players with a lot of sandpaper in their personalities.

One nice thing about that pace is that Kap has done that in a team that has had a culture of low scoring games since its beginnings.

And they scored their late goals effortlessly. It was not about disrespecting a beaten opponent, and going on with the same pressure despite the score. They were just that much better than the poor Habs.

Yeo blaming "execution" brings back painful flashbacks from his Wild days

Oh yeah, I have to compete for the prediction win! I predicted 5-1, a goal differential of plus 4. Is the pre-game prediction about how many goals the Wild scores, or how big the goal differential is? (I have to compete here - just like the Wild now competes, Sturm saying after the game that the team does not accept not winning every game)

Another great game. I especially liked Hartman and Foligno defending Spurgeon and Dumba. The Spurgeon - Dvorak hit I felt was not intentional, Spurgeon focusing on the goal, and probably not really even seeing Dvorak. The one thing I am worried about now is Talbot. Clearly he's not recovered and we have to play almost every other day from now on. That is way too much to play for any goalie. We might need someone to backup Kähkönen. Is Hunter Jones ready to play a couple games?

Never been more glad to be wrong!

A technical knockout on ice, and Chara likely could have hit a lot harder if he had so wished.

I feel strangely optimistic. Wild win with a score of 5 - 1.

If somebody had predicted a team will do that this season, I would have laughed it off as totally crazy.

We might get there. Talbot/Kahkonen not bad at all right now and Wallstedt extremely promising so far in his career.

Boldy does look quite slow. Like Granny, he seems to be able to compensate with the hockey sense and great passing. Granny was a lousy shooter, though. If Boldy shoots well, that will give him one another way of making the game and the puck move faster. Still, I sure hope Boldy gets some skating training - and is able to add at least some speed. I'd expect the refs will allow a lot of interference, hooking and grabbing during the playoffs, adding to the importance of strength, grit and acceleration, and making speed a bit less important than during the cleaner play during the regular season. But it doesn't change the fact of hockey becoming more and more about skating speed and the overall playing speed. Fast puck movement, fast thinking, fast hands, fast feet, and fast fists, if need be.

Yeah, it's incredible. Rookies have blackouts. We have vets who have regular blackouts. Boldy has played like he's always played in the NHL.

A really fun game to watch. Unnecessarily tight, but I guess it goes like this sometimes. I really like the hockey IQ on Boldy. Maybe he could do a Mikael Granlund position switch from center to winger to center when he gets accustomed to the game. Goalies played well. I think in the end it was decided by Lankinen making two slight gaffes and Kähkönen only one (by not finding that puck in the scrum). We're going to need good goal tending and conservation of energy. The latter part of the season is going to absolutely crazy, games almost every other day.

5 good games in a row is big ask for a young goalie and the team might be tempted to take it a bit easier. A little bit less consistency and effort makes a big difference. I hope they prove me wrong, of course.

The Hawks were not battling the way I'm sure they could. I expect them to fight for the puck in this one. 4-3 OT win for the Wild. Boldy assists, Fiala scores.

The gold goes to the team A real bulldozer of a first period. They played clean and they played really hard, won the 1 against 1's most of the time. Excellent!

I just realised Hartman was a Flyer for some time as well. He's been such a great player for the Wild, that one wonders what was it the Hawks, the Preds, the Stars and the Flyers all let him walk away. Anyways, I think when Philly gets rid of Fletcher the next GM might change everything in a couple of years. I bet that if Philly one day scoops up Guerin, you Philly fans will be a happy bunch in a jiffy.

I still have nightmares of the Hawks. All those playoffs series where they abused us... Maybe this game will be one little step of getting even. I'd like to see Boldy shooting more, just to see how good the shot is. Wild win 5 - 2

And now you have Yeo to suffer about as well...

Looks highly doubtful.