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

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wild lose another and this Honda West division is taking on a distinct Colorado vs Las Vegas feel to it for Round 2.

Minnesota by no means is mailing anything in and they are even beating Vegas skaters enough to get scoring chances....problem is, they aren't beating Marc Andre Fleury.

Perhaps Minnesota will catch MAF on a "bad night", but expecting to have the next three bad nights is a near impossibility.
Wild are also finding themselves lacking at the face off dot, usually starting any plays without possession, and Kirill Kaprisov is finding his time and space being shrunk down even further.

Zach Parise is a mere shell of his former self, but right now, the Wild have no choice but to play him due to a couple of injuries on the forward ranks.
Cam Talbot, as good as he has looked many times in this series, has also looked pretty paper thin as well.

This is what you get with Talbot, after all....good and bad, seemingly in equal amounts.
Except the Knights are really capitalizing when he is on the down side.

Alex Tuch continues to abuse his drafting team while the rest of the Vegas team just rolls along with their lines, 1-4, with confidence that any one of them can pot a goal.

Vegas still has to win the 4th game, but honestly, on paper as on the ice, that is just a matter of "when" not "if" it will happen.

[lynxrattle]

It's also a DeBoer vs. Evason matchup, and I have no questions who I would prefer to be the Wild's coach.

[Alexandron]

On 5/23/2021 at 12:12 AM, lynxrattle said:

It's also a DeBoer vs. Evason matchup, and I have no questions who I would prefer to be the Wild's coach.

I have no questions in my preference too. 

Evason had a good regular season except when team played against Blues and Avs teams. But our playoffs performance still remain poor. Sad to see articles, when they are talking about us as a traditional easy playoffs eliminating team during  the 1st round.

[Alexandron]

We were able to win last night at Vegas game#5 (4:2). Despite we were limited on shots on goal through the entire game (made only 13= 7-1-5), but we won it by defensive way. Talbot was our hero in that game, who stopped 38 out of 40 shots. Next game #6 is on Wednesday.

[Alexandron]

And we won game #6 by impressive play. No any media will tell about us that we are an easy eliminating playoffs team during the 1st round. Series tied 3-3. Our 4th time to play game #7 in a Wild history tomorrow.

[Math]

8 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

And we won game #6 by impressive play. No any media will tell about us that we are an easy eliminating playoffs team during the 1st round. Series tied 3-3. Our 4th time to play game #7 in a Wild history tomorrow.

 

3-0 so far, all on the road.

[Alexandron]

17 hours ago, Math said:

 

3-0 so far, all on the road.

Actually 2 on the road (game#1 and #5) and 1 at home(game #6). I already read few articles about coming game #7 at Vegas. Their fans are going to be extremely loud for supporting their team. Interesting if our fans are going to be there too to support our team? It is going to be an extreme pressure for the Wild team. Hope, they will be able to withstand that.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Nice run of a season for the Minnesota Wild comes to an end after pushing a good Vegas team to 7 games.

Knights having Max Pacioretty available for the game, Wild losing stalwart defenseman Jonas Brodin early in the game didn't bode well for Minnesota from the beginning, but the bottom line was the Knights took advantage of their chances, Minnesota didn't, and even though this wasn't the Knights BEST game, they clearly showed that their depth and playstyle were just more conducive to winning a Cup than Minnesota's currently is.

Moving forward, the Knights will have to clean up some of their play because where the Wild fail to capitalize on chances, the Avs likely will.
Containing Colorado's top line will be key (duh!).....make the rest of the Avs come up large, because I think lines 1-4 on the whole, Vegas still has the edge.

As for Minnesota....
Some minuses for their season first, because I want to end on the good stuff for them.

-- Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are REALLY showing their age...and they are still on the team for 4 more seasons!
-- Still too thin on the backend....once you get past guys like the solid Jonas Brodin, the hard nosed Ian Cole, or the all-heart Jared Spurgeon the rest of the defense leaves a bit to be desired in one form or the other.
-- Some really talented players on Minnesota....but I just wonder if they are a fit for the Wild's defensive structure and patience style with a hint of being opportunists on offense. Kevin Fiala, Mat Dumba, Nick Bjugstad are examples of players who I think are still NHL viable (and can even get better), but not necessarily a fit for what is emerging as the Wild's current identity.
 

 

Plusses....

++ Kirill Kaprisov. Ya, I HAVE to start with this guy because he is the type of player that Minnesota simply hasn't had in a very long time, maybe ever, closest being Marion Gaborik, but even there, Kirill shows better hockey IQ and playmaking ability, patience, uber skills in high traffic, and in knowing how to use the rink and his position with respect to his opponents.
Very young guy still, can only get better, here is hoping the Wild can find the right players to compliment him so as not to waste his prime years.

++ Mats Zuccarello. One of those players that DOES compliment Kaprisov very well. Small, but fast, smart and skilled....if he stays healthy, he can more than do his part to help Minnesota stay competitive.

 

++ Marcus Foligno. Spurgeon may wear the "C", but this guy has captain written all over him. Classic blue collar type guy who is vocal, leads by example, and is underrated offensively to go along with his on-ice toughness and checking ability. Wild need to clone this guy somehow...

 

++ Kevin Fiala. Yea, I know I put him in my minus section, but I gotta give the guy his due.....he IS a good talent and he has cut way down on his blatant turnovers from a year ago. Still think he is too cute for his own good while puck handling and carrying up ice, and he still seems rather easy to separate from the puck when pressured just so, but he did enough right to warrant being acknowledged for what he had done on the ice this season.
Still can't help but think if the ultimate help he could give this team is in the form of a trade chip where some other team thinks they can mold him further and be willing to part with a high end prospect and a draft pick for him.

++ Cam Talbot and Kappo Kahkonen. 
Not a Talbot fan, but he and Kappo have been an upgrade from Dubnyk and Stalock previously.
Kahkonen may still be the goalie of the future for the Wild, and Talbot is a nice segway into that. I hope the Wild do at least a 50-50 splits on games next season

 

++ Joel Eriksson-Ek and Jordan Greenway.
EEK has filled in the void left by the departed Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal down the middle. EEK still isn't a top centerman, but he does a damned good job and still has some ceiling in his game as a good two way center.
Greenway finally played like the big man he is while showing a bit of flair for offense. He can serve as the template moving forward for the type of big, skilled wingers the team should have on board.

[lynxrattle]

The Wild will return stronger next season. Boldy, Rossi, Addison, some of those might be the pieces we need, and there's always the possibility of finding a hidden gem from the other prospects. Plus Guerin has made good trades. I'd actually add Guerin to the plusses. He's a real home run by the organisation, at last. We've had mediocre GM's before, now we have the top.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 hour ago, lynxrattle said:

The Wild will return stronger next season. Boldy, Rossi, Addison, some of those might be the pieces we need, and there's always the possibility of finding a hidden gem from the other prospects. Plus Guerin has made good trades. I'd actually add Guerin to the plusses. He's a real home run by the organisation, at last. We've had mediocre GM's before, now we have the top.

 

Absolutely can add Guerin to the plus category.

For the first time in a long time, I feel there is a GM sitting in that seat in St. Paul that really thinks forward and can find ways to truly move the competitive needle, as opposed to being happy with the status quo of "just get into the playoffs".

He was known as  no-nonsense type leader as a player and it seems he took that with him to the GM's chair.

[SaucyJack]

One of my first cousins and her kids live in Twin Cities area and have been, well, call it “medium-suffering” Wild fans for a while.  Before COVID they’d make a yearly Facebook post of them at the (probably) one game they attended live that year.

 

Darn I had a good FB post to throw up on her wall had they overcome Vegas.  “go wild!  what a golden night!  avoiding capitals to improve your luck next round!”  Wasted opportunity dang it...