lynxrattle

Tight, not right...

There was a plexi glass behind Talbot said the play by play guy from ESPN. Obviously wrong, as we can see and hear. It was nice brickmanship by Talbot - and the team is getting better defending. The only thing stopping the Wild now is the right schedule looming.

Just now, ClusterChuck said:

Very solid game in all facets. Support, Great sticks, Smart plays.

Without Foligno as well. They stood up well to the hitting the Hawks did in the first period. Very solid playing.

First shutout this season

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/analyzing-best-four-nhl-lines-first-half-2021-22/

Mentioned for the best first line, best second line, and mentioned for the best third line.

Not bad at all!

With Lucic and Tkachuk in the team one would think that there would be no problem of getting pushed around.

The Hawks have not been much of a challenge this season but against us the last game went to OT. Let's hope the team remembers that. 5 -1 Wild win.

The restrictions are being loosened all over Europe as nothing short of totalitarianism stops Omicron. I'm sure Canada has to follow the example before the players start a mass exodus.

They seem pretty similar statswise. Probably the deciding factor in the playoffs would be how the teams defend, and on an individual level, which of the two (or three, if Talbot is considered too) is more level-headed when the pressure starts to build to boiling level.

If Stamkos had played in Canada, he'd be all over the media. It stinks, but it is what is, if hockey doesn't get more popular in non-traditional areas.

Sixth in points in the NHL right now

Agree with the rotation. Two good enough goalies sharing the workload. Come playoffs the hotter hand should get more responsibility.

No even strenght goals against when he is playing with Foligno and Eek. So it's tough to not like this. Team friendly, and I guess it would be expected that he would be valuable in the playoffs.

Well, now it looks quadruple trouble for the opponents. Kap and Zucc as always, but now it's also Boldy and Fiala. My God, the way they connect with each other! I thought Fiala would have no chemistry with nobody, but now he looks like one of the Sedin brothers together with Boldy. I just can't understand how Boldy can be this ready to play. I could understand it, if he was a highly-touted number one pick, but this is a welcome surprise.

I also thought that Foligno's absence had a huge impact. It looked like we were going to just run away with the game, and then they started throwing their weight around, and came back into the game.

We managed to win, but the game needs to get better. Way too many scoring chances against us.

NYI has had problems scoring, so maybe we should wish for a high-scoring, open game.

Wild win 4 - 1.

The thing with Mayhew in Minny was that during the inmates running the room years of Parise/Suter he never got a decent chance of showing if he can keep on scoring in the NHL. Putting him on a good line with decent TOI would have gone against the hierarchy that those SOB's Parise and Suter had managed to instill into the Wild. Parise first, then the next best draft picks, then any AHL ringers playing 10 minutes in a game and out the minute they made a mistake. Top that with Boudreau who liked to give a lot of TOI to the team's stars, and Mayhew never had a real chance. He played a couple of games, didn't score, got sent back, scored a lot of AHL goals, came back, and so it went for years. When Guerin and Evason came along things changed, but Mayhew might be too small for the winning 50/50 battles those two seem to emphasise.

Anyways, Mayhew seemed to be good character, and I am happy if he has now found a place in Philly. He was always treated a bit like raw meat, but he always did his best with his limited opportunities, never complained, at least publicly. All the best for him.

4 hours ago, Alexandron said:

An interesting fact for this game also. Kaprizov had his 50th point this season in his 38th game out of 39 games. 1 game he missed because of injury. Last year he had 51 points in 55 played games.

No sophomore slump for him, as I anticipated. He started a little slowly, but has kept on going strong basically all season.

1 hour ago, bbgarnett said:

I would agree but then it makes watching Trade Deadline day no fun.

Damnit, I already had formed a consensus in my head on staying pat, getting bored on the trade deadline day, and then the no fun realisation totally wrecked it.

"No fun to hang around
Feelin' that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day"

Giroux would be cheap, a rental. I'd rather have Miller, but as Tomdog said, he would cost a lot more. Zulgad and Goff were speculating on Brock Nelson. I'm kind of on a fence here. Do we really need anyone? We can't get any stud centers because of the price, anyways. Could we really achieve a run with our inexperienced key players anyways? Kap, Boldy and Fiala have next to no experience on winning in the playoffs. Is it realistic to think we could make a deep run yet? Ideally we would try our best now, but with the idea of really trying for the Cup next season, or the season after that. But the cap hell waiting for us makes near future look pretty daunting. I think maybe Guerin could wait late into trade deadline, to see how the team looks by then.

I'm just so grateful to be able to see the Wild play like this. The first period was crap, but still they had almost forty shots on goal. They just corrected their game and then it was perfection. I bet they had played the first one great too, if ClusterChuck had set up his red and green lights properly at the get go

What a night, what a show from Zuccarello - but it's wrong to pick one guy here, as the whole team was picture perfect after the first period.

Wild win 3-2. Shootout. Wild gets its second goal with 65 seconds left in the game, playing 6 on 5

Listening to Russo's podcasts gives an impression that maybe the organisation is looking for a center. Perhaps J.T. Miller. That would be pretty strong. First line Zucc-Kap-Hartman, second Fiala-Boldy-a Miller like center, checking line Eek-Greenway-Foligno, and then a fourth line of youngsters led by Gaudreau/Sturm. Those lines would maybe be contender lines. The only thing wrong here - what would we have to give to get a Miller like center?

60 shots in one game. That is just incredible.

When Torchetti coached the Wild he was refreshingly straightforward or even blunt in the pressers. If he's still the same, he won't speak corporate bs.