Playoffs 2021 Opening Round: Minnesota Wild vs Las Vegas Golden Knights (VGK Win 4-3)

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

Wild surprised many and not only got to the playoffs, but won the bulk of the games against a tough Knights team.
Can they continue doing that in the post season?
Any and all opinions on the series can go right here!

Edited May 29, 2021 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

So far, the Knights have had the better of the views to the opposing net, but Cam Talbot has held strong for Minnesota and he has had some good help from his skaters in limiting Grade A chances.

Wild need to generate some more chances of their own though. 
As of this posting, with 6 minutes to play in the 1st, they are being outshot  11-5

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Knights look like they are taking over a bit here.
Still no score as the opening period comes to a close, but its been mostly all Knights, including some chances on the PP and Minnesota is just barely hanging on.

Wild will take the moral victory not getting scored on so far, but man, the ice is tilted towards Talbot.

Knights dominating on face offs isn't helping Minnesota's chances either.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

23-6 shots in favor of the Knights at the start of the 2nd...MAF has to be falling asleep over there.

Could be a good chance if the Wild can get a sudden break away to shoot one past a groggy Fleury  

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

So much for a groggy Fleury.... Wild were all over the crease, some good looks, and Fleury comes up with a circus save to keep the game scoreless!
Wow.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wild are pushing..... but Fleury, who I thought might have taken some Nyquil by now, has been there to stop Minnesota from doing scoring of any kind.

Kirill Kaprisov, for you non-Wild fans who may not know, really is a joy to watch.
He has all the tools and smarts to be a top grade hockey player and now has a big stage in the playoffs to try and prove that.

However, I think he is finding out he simply doesn't have the same time and space in the post season against a locked in opponent that he does during the regular season.

He will surely be forged in fire at this rate.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Usually 0-0 games aren't particularly exciting....except when you have goalies making AAA saves, and this game had that.

Wild take the opener 1-0 in OT, and I  never woulda thunk it, but Cam Talbot made 40+ saves to keep his team in it long enough for Joel Eriksson-Ek to pot the game winner past an equally amazing Marc Andre Fleury in the extra session.

Wild lead 1-0 and they continue owning, surprisingly, the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

[Samifan]

Is that the same Cam Talbot that played for the Flyers ? 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

25 minutes ago, Samifan said:

Is that the same Cam Talbot that played for the Flyers ? 

 

As strange as that sounds, yep, sure is.  

[lynxrattle]

4 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

As strange as that sounds, yep, sure is.  

You could argue that no he is not. He would be the same old leaky and familiar Talbot, if he played back in Philly. Good defense makes good goalies. I'd say the Flyers would have had a decent season if the defense had been fixed. Just look at how Talbot was suffering in those games the Wild had a day off in defending. Something like 5 or 6 goals against, soft ones too. I just wish the Wild keeps defending like they did in this game 1.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

17 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

You could argue that no he is not. He would be the same old leaky and familiar Talbot, if he played back in Philly. Good defense makes good goalies. I'd say the Flyers would have had a decent season if the defense had been fixed. Just look at how Talbot was suffering in those games the Wild had a day off in defending. Something like 5 or 6 goals against, soft ones too. I just wish the Wild keeps defending like they did in this game 1.

 

Cam Talbot seems like the classic "system goalie".
If the system and structure in front of him are good, as they were when he came up with the Rangers and now again with the Wild, he does well.
If he is left out to fend for himself as he often was in Edmonton, Philadelphia, and Calgary, then he doesn't.

Still don't think he is the goalie to take the Wild to the Summit, and I still would like to see a 50/50 splits between him and Kahkonen, but I certainly like Talbot LEAGUES more than Dubnyk or Stalock for Minnesota.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Watching some of NHL Tonight Live right now, and the panel, who are previewing the Preds and Canes, have a decidedly Minnesota flavor.

Jamie Hersch, Bruce Boudreau, and Mark Parrish are on there.   

[lynxrattle]

You're probably right on Talbot not being able to take a team to the Cup. Oddly, he's a perfect goalie for us at this point in time. We're not going to the Cup with a re-born Tretiak between the pipes - we need to get stronger and Talbot plays well enough to get results, but not good enough to hide weaknesses. That's a recipe for accountability. You make mistakes and there's good reason to believe you will pay for them. Then you'll either learn or eventually get shipped out.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wild and Knights played another tight one...only this time, Vegas was able to do a bit more offensively and it was enough to get past Minnesota.

Kirill Kaprisov finding out the playoffs are, indeed, a different animal, and that same time and space he had in plentiful quantities before, quickly disappears in the post season..... Knights didn't give him much at all this last game.

Still though, the great thing about having an intelligent, fantastic player like Kirill is, he isn't one dimensional, he should make his adjustments (hopefully his teammates as well right along with him), and will do what needs to be done to find other ways to use his talents.

Wild should now get the favorable match ups as the series shifts over to the Xcel Energy Center and the Minnesota head coach should do all he can to exploit that..........provided his team doesn't get caught up in any sort of homecoming celebrations that is.

At this stage, series could still go either way.
Both goalies have played exceptional.

[lynxrattle]

I just hope Kaprizov follows the example set but McDavid, and in the next playoffs has found ways to keep on competing:

 

 

[Alexandron]

17 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

I just hope Kaprizov follows the example set but McDavid, and in the next playoffs has found ways to keep on competing:

 

 

Oilers lost last night to Jets with a score 1:4 the 1st playoffs game. I think, Kaprizov needs to find his own way to score during playoffs.

[lynxrattle]

6 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Oilers lost last night to Jets with a score 1:4 the 1st playoffs game. I think, Kaprizov needs to find his own way to score during playoffs.

McDavid was learning how to defend better For Kaprizov it's now more important to watch a lot of tape on what the superstars are doing in order to keep getting points in the playoffs.

 

I'm quite hopeful Kap will start scoring already in the following home games. I'm also hopeful he will spend the summer analysing how he can better and better.

[Alexandron]

15 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

McDavid was learning how to defend better For Kaprizov it's now more important to watch a lot of tape on what the superstars are doing in order to keep getting points in the playoffs.

 

I'm quite hopeful Kap will start scoring already in the following home games. I'm also hopeful he will spend the summer analysing how he can better and better.

He had tonight a 1st in his career wonderful NHL primary assist to the Hartman's goal during the fist period. Overall, 1st period was good, but 2 and 3rd was worse out of 3 games which we played already against VGK. Hope next home game will be more productive as for Kaprizov as well as for entire team.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Alexandron

[lynxrattle]

The end of the 3rd period is the first time I have seen Kap looking downbeat. Hopefully it's a good lesson for him and the team. The vets really need to step in now and show the level of compete needed. They lead and Kap and the youngsters will follow.

[Alexandron]

Like I said before, Kaprizov is controlled by 2 Vegas players in the last 3 games. Video from last night:

 

[Alexandron]

I really want from our team an extremely physical aggressive way to play against  VGK. I just do not want anything else, like Capitals did with them during the finals in 2018. And that was Whitecloud again affecting Kaprizov's play and nothing was done by referees as well as to McNabb too. And that is not the first time I have seen.  Fleury is aggressive against our players and why we should not be aggressive against him too? That team should be punished badly at least in one game. They do not understand the other way to play against them during playoffs.

[lynxrattle]

We really need to play more physical. The refs are now in playoffs mode. Everybody is now allowed to play way more rough. The other teams are now in playoffs mode. If we keep on playing following a regular season rule book, we will stay a regular season team. Even Eek's line should have played rougher than they did.

[Alexandron]

2 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

We really need to play more physical. The refs are now in playoffs mode. Everybody is now allowed to play way more rough. The other teams are now in playoffs mode. If we keep on playing following a regular season rule book, we will stay a regular season team. Even Eek's line should have played rougher than they did.

Agree. That line (EEK-Foligno-Greenway) should be the main one to play more physical, more rougher and more aggressive. Even EEK mentioned that in his interview after the game last night. Soucy and Cole could be a good helpers in that play too. 

[lynxrattle]

1 hour ago, Alexandron said:

Agree. That line (EEK-Foligno-Greenway) should be the main one to play more physical, more rougher and more aggressive. Even EEK mentioned that in his interview after the game last night. Soucy and Cole could be a good helpers in that play too. 

They should lead by example and the other lines should follow the example the best they can.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Man...Talbot got scored on just now like he wasn't even there.

Then he does the "Stalock Pose" holding up the offending glove which he DIDN'T use to stop that shot.

1-0 Vegas.