Minnesota Wild vs Tampa Bay Lightning, Sunday 11-28-21, 1:00pm, Xcel Energy Center

[MNSOTA]

https://thesportsdaily.com/?p=1244142

 

Minnesota Wild (13-6-1)  27pts  1st in the Central

3.60 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)

3.05 Goals Against Per Game (21st in the NHL)

15.9% Power Play (23rd in the NHL)

80.0% Penalty Kill (20th in the NHL)

 

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 6G 16A = 22pts

2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 6G 10A = 16pts

3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 11G 4A = 15pts

4. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 3G 11A = 14pts

5. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 7G 6A = 13pts

 

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 41 PIM's

2. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 35 PIM's

3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 21 PIM's

 

Top Goaltenders:

1. #33 Cam Talbot (11-5-0)  2.75GAA  .913SV%

2. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (2-1-1)  3.30GAA  .870SV%

 

Vs.

 

Tampa Bay Lightning (12-4-3)  27pts  3rd in the Atlantic

3.16 Goals For Per Game (11th in the NHL)

2.68 Goals Against Per Game (8th in the NHL)

19.3% Power Play (14th in the NHL)

86.4% Penalty Kill (8th in the NHL)

 

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #91 Steven Stamkos ~ 11G 12A = 23pts

2. #77 Victor Hedman ~ 3G 15A = 18pts

3. #17 Alex Killorn ~ 7G 10A = 17pts

4. #71 Anthony Cirelli ~ 6G 6A = 12pts

5. #18 Ondrej Palat ~ 4G 8A = 12pts

 

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #14 Pat Maroon ~ 35 PIM's

2. #71 Anthony Cirelli ~ 23 PIM's

3. #17 Alex Killorn ~ 22 PIM's

 

Top Goaltenders:

1. #88 Andrei Vasilevskiy (10-3-3)  2.09GAA  .926SV%  2SO

2. #1 Brian Elliott (2-1-0)  3.30GAA  .878SV%

[lynxrattle]

 

 

"I've been caught stealing;
once when I was 5...
I enjoy stealing.
It's just as simple as that.
Well, it's just a simple fact.
When I want something,
I don't want to pay for it."

 

TBLTIR has found a great way of abusing cap space by creative LTIR management.  Minnesota Wild is currently not manipulating cap space, but on the contrary suffering from cap space Suter/Parise era penalties imposed by the NHL - penalties that should be imposed on TBLTIR as well.

 

The consequence of the NHL's inaction is that the 2-timing champs can manage quite a roster and we really can win only by stealing back from them. The only way we win is some of our guys must find their inner thieves for this game. And Evason must find a way for us to compete in the neutral zone. In the last game they clogged it totally for us, and themselves danced through it with no problems whatsoever.

 

3-2 OT win for us, because in the end justice always prevails. Bjugstad with the winner. He's played solidly recently, but is probably a real clepto-maniac underneath the civilized, laidback appearance

 

[wildstars95]

3-2 is realistic ..but a beatdown on the bolts would be acceptable too 

[Alexandron]

Agree with MNSOTA. It should be a revenge game on our home ice. Interesting, their 27 points vs our 27 points. Who will prevail?

Predicting our win 4:3 in OT (or SO), if we will play hard about entire 65 minutes.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Since I am not down in FLA, the Bolts come to visit me in St. Paul.

Wild played the Champs tough last time out, while the Lightning continue to work new faces into their structure (getting better too), so how this game goes could be anyone's guess.

Minnesota has proven they don't care who the opponent is, what the gambler's odds are, or whether they are "supposed" to be a playoff team or not.
They are out there to win, out there to grind, and basically have proven to this point that they can play any style the opposition wants to play.

Home team definitely wants to exact some payback after narrowly missing a 'W' last time out, and while the two time Champions aren't quite the same dominant team they've been the last two years, the rebuilt 3rd line is slowly coming together, their 4th line is showing chemistry, and should be up to the task of matching the effort the Wild will certainly put out.
The Lightning still won't be an easy draw for Minnesota, but then again, the boys in green don't pay much attention to such heresay.

Looking forward to another great game, may the better of my "sons" win.  

[lynxrattle]

Watching CAR - WSH while waiting for the game to start. Wonderful, fast, smart hockey

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

4 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

Watching CAR - WSH while waiting for the game to start. Wonderful, fast, smart hockey

 

Those are two teams that should be at the top or near the top of the Metro all season long.
Islanders SHOULD have been as well, but, man...what funk those guys are in starting the season out as nomads on the NHL schedule!

[lynxrattle]

4 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Those are two teams that should be at the top or near the top of the Metro all season long.
Islanders SHOULD have been as well, but, man...what funk those guys are in starting the season out as nomads on the NHL schedule!

Parise - Isles funk, Suter - Stars funk. Co-incidence probably, but they won't help there, either.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

6 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

Parise - Isles funk, Suter - Stars funk. Co-incidence probably, but they won't help there, either.

 

Isles have more problems than Parise.
Zach was never going to be more than a veteran bottom six player for them no matter what.

Varlamov not playing well (in fact, lost his job to Sorokin it seems), Barzal, Pageau, Beauvillier, Palmieri, Pelech, Pulock, Nelson....key players either underperforming, in and out of IR and Covid Protocol lists....THOSE are their problems.
If those guys can get traction, be all healthy at the same time, they will look more the part of the team that lost twice to the two time eventual champs...a team that should be taking the next step this year.

Parise's got very little to do with it. He is just an 'extra', and probably invited on to the team for his years in the NHL and because Lamoriello likes him from his NJ days.

Edited November 28, 2021 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[lynxrattle]

Lamoriello probably feels somewhat like a father towards Parise. Otherwise it's hard to understand why he's ready to have Parise there.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Watching some Wild pre-game, Rem Pitlick was interviewed.
Not only seems real happy to be sticking with the big club, but is pulling his weight to this point and justifying his spot on the roster.

Good for him.
Wild are gonna need players like him to step up especially over the next 4 years as outside help in the form of high end players will be very, very difficult, if not impossible, to get due to the double buyouts.

[lynxrattle]

Recently we have had a string of positive surprises. Pitlick, Addison, Duhaime, Sturm, the level Kaprizov is at. Hartman.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Gigi Marvin DEFINITELY better in studio as an analyst than a color commentator.
She just did an an excellent breakdown of team strategies based on the last game between the Bolts and Wild.

No hesitation, sure of what she is saying, and an absolute PIcasso with the telestrator!  

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Just now, lynxrattle said:

Recently we have had a string of positive surprises. Pitlick, Addison, Duhaime, Sturm, the level Kaprizov is at. Hartman.

 

And those are ALL things that HAVE to happen if this team is going to continue to buck odds against them.

Most teams face cap crunches and go into a sort of "dark age".... the Wild, with players performing like this, are hoping to avoid that, and even if they aren't exactly Cup ready, at least tread water, cause problems for so-called contenders, and maybe make a surprise run or two while they flush out the buyouts and other players continue to mature, over the next few seasons.

This, at least, will keep fans engaged and invested in the team.

[lynxrattle]

2 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Gigi Marvin DEFINITELY better in studio as an analyst than a color commentator.
She just did an an excellent breakdown of team strategies based on the last game between the Bolts and Wild.

No hesitation, sure of what she is saying, and an absolute PIcasso with the telestrator!  

Damnit. I would have liked to hear that. Never too much of explaining what the teams are trying to achieve.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

They are saying Cam Talbot has been good at controlling rebounds....he will definitely need to do that against Tampa Bay, as the Lightning love to feast on sloppy goalies that leave scraps for their forwards to shovel into the net.

[lynxrattle]

Just now, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

They are saying Cam Talbot has been good at controlling rebounds....he will definitely need to do that against Tampa Bay, as the Lightning love to feast on sloppy goalies that leave scraps for their forwards to shovel into the net.

That explains why the eye test says he's good, but the numbers overall are not.

[wildstars95]

haha gorg gonna suck that mask down his throat 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 minute ago, wildstars95 said:

haha gorg gonna suck that mask down his throat 

 

He sounded like he was being kidnapped and being allowed to talk on the ransom phone through a gag.

[Alexandron]

38 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Those are two teams that should be at the top or near the top of the Metro all season long.
Islanders SHOULD have been as well, but, man...what funk those guys are in starting the season out as nomads on the NHL schedule!

Yeah. Islanders are a huge disappointment for me this season too. 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Puck dropped, Game ON, boys....Game ON!

[TallyTigerShark]

Gophers with a big win yesterday, Wild today!! Let’s go!!!

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Damn...I activated Mats Zuccarello on my fantasy team thinking he would play today, but he is still out.

[lynxrattle]

I wish we would win more faceoffs

[TallyTigerShark]

Will be interesting to see Pitlick with some ice time on the same line with Kaprizov