pilldoc Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Discuss St. Louis vs Minn. here. Regular season series (Series tied 2-2-0)Nov 29, 2014 St. Louis 3, Minnesota 2 (SO)Mar 14, 2015 Minnesota 3, St. Louis 1Mar 21, 2015 St. Louis 3, Minnesota 6Apr 11, 2015 Minnesota 2, St. Louis 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 It is the Blues year, the offense is clicking, the goaltending is two deep and Shattenkirk is back. With apologies to the great run by the Wild to get back in it. Blues in 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I went homer bold and called Wild in 7. In the past, I would have been worried drawing the Blues in the 1st round, but Minnesota has shown themselves to be very resilient against the 'heavier' teams in the league, being able to pull out wins against such teams, and against the Blues in particular, I've seen them skate circles around some of the Blues' tank players while still limiting their good skaters like Oshie and Tarasenko. The Blues 'lane clogging' ways WILL give the Wild problems and goaltender Brian Elliot will certainly take advantage of limited prime shots headed his way, but I feel the Wild roll out 4 legit lines and all 4 lines are very good skaters, do have some toughness in the bottom 6, while the Minnesota defense plays a very good 'layered' type zone coverage. The only way this blows up in the face of Minnesota is if, for some reason, Devan Dubnyk reverts back to Edmonton Dubnyk.Because, with apologies to Darcy Kuemper, whom I believe still has a chance to be a good goaltender in this league, if he has to come in, the Wild may as well call it a season at that point and look to next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Wild in 6 games, Tucker scores 2 OT goals in games #4 and #5 to give the Wild an insurmountable lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Wild in 6 games, Tucker scores 2 OT goals in games #4 and #5 to give the Wild an insurmountable lead. I will assume you meant Jason ZUCKER, because if we traded him for Darcy TUCKER, I am going ape$#!% right about now..... To the point, Zucker (and Vanek for that matter) will HAVE to be snipers first and foremost.Blues don't afford many teams the opportunities to mess around with multiple pass plays....see your shot, take it. Vanek needs to get back to that....Jason ZUCKER , certainly will.That young man has come a long way and showing some big grapefruits in continuing to play the game hard even after just coming back from a broken collarbone Granlund, Zucker, Brodin, Dumba, Niedderreiter....a very nice young core for the Wild to build around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 @TropicalFruitGirl26 HA HA>...yes, my bad, I meant Zucker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 The Blues are not going far in the playoffs. I have zero faith in them and am certain they will find a creative way to blow another perfectly good season. But they will beat the Wild. Their beating the hell out of their goalie will bite them in the ass. The shine is already coming off of Dubnyk. Blues in six. If Dubnyk plays well, this series could flip the other way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 @ruxpin The Blues will lose in the 1st round.....for no other reason than hockeyjunkie stated they would win the Cup.....a death blow if there ever was one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojo1917 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I picked the Blues in 6 they have been consistently good all year and can play the heavy playoff grinding style. they have pretty good scoring depth, i think this is the year Pietrangelo takes the Doughty step towards superstardom. I think the Wild are the hottest team in the league though and maybe stay in that coma and pull off an upset, i wouldn't be surprised but i also think they rode Dubnyk pretty hard down the stretch and as a group might be gassed from playing at a playoff pace for 2 months already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Gonna have to go with 1 upset...this would be the one. Dubnyk has been playing lights out. This IMO is a very dangerous Wild team. Would not shock me at all if they have the St. Louis fans crying the "Blues" at the end of the series. Yeah I know the Blues are talented, but you have to give credit to where credit is due. The Wild have been playing awsome hockey since before the All-Star break and Dubnyk hs alot to do wih that. What a difference 1-2 years are for this kid. From playing in the mess known as Oiler land and the tanking team in the desert known as Arizona, here he has singlehandly turned the the Wild's season around. I truly believe I think the Wild can pull off the upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Blues in 7. Most likely series toupset though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Blues in 7. Most likely series toupset though. You picked the Sens too didn't you? Anyway, I picked the Blues to win the West preseason. I'm not backing away from them at this point unless I see something to change my mind, which I haven't. Tough series, but the Blues come out on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 You picked the Sens too didn't you? Anyway, I picked the Blues to win the West preseason. I'm not backing away from them at this point unless I see something to change my mind, which I haven't. Tough series, but the Blues come out on top.I won't consider the Sens an upset. An upset to me, is unexpected. The sens have the Habs and Price's number, and have been playing ridiculous good in the final stretch of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I won't consider the Sens an upset. An upset to me, is unexpected. The sens have the Habs and Price's number, and have been playing ridiculous good in the final stretch of the season. Regardless of how they played during the regular season against each other, A wildcard team who makes the playoffs on the last day of the regular season knocking off the Presidents trophy winner *has* to be considered a MAJOR upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJgoal Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Regardless of how they played during the regular season against each other, A wildcard team who makes the playoffs on the last day of the regular season knocking off the Presidents trophy winner *has* to be considered a MAJOR upset. I thought we were talking about the Sens, not the Pens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I thought we were talking about the Sens, not the Pens Yes, and the shift is now called 'the ****" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagerMeister Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 ST Louis easily Olli Jokinen is the secret weapon, he shall strike fear into the heart's of men!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Obviously, this is my favorite series. Wild in 6! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanyan Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 The toughest series of them all. They will both win their home games, but St Louis will steal game 6 and win the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 According to USA Today, it will be Jake Allen, not Brian Elliot, getting the start for Game 1: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2015/04/15/blues-to-start-allen-in-goal-to-open-playoffs-against-wild/25824499/ Unsurprisingly, the Wild will be going with Devan Dubnyk. Then we have this from the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Minnesota's projected lineup for tonight's game: http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/300011111.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue Seems Matt Cooke, who recently returned from sports hernia surgery will NOT be playing, and Ryan Carter who also came back from injury, will be a healthy scratch along with Jordan Schrader and Erik Haula. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Wild up 1-0 on the "mighty" St. Louis Blues. Played a most excellent, complete game from the opening puck drop to the final horn.Dubnyk looked like his usual sharp self, the usual suspect skaters showed up, Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, etc....The defense led by Ryan Suter was tight and smart...and woohoo, Mathew Dumba with his first career NHL playoff goal! Blues tried their usual bullying style, but Minnesota was mostly too fast for Blues players to line up properly and Minny even gave some of that back to St. Louis....no surprise, Chris Stewart leading the way there, but he was FAR from the only one.Nino Neiddereiter, Charlie Coyle, Marco Scandella were also notable contributors in the physical play. Game 2 is Saturday afternoon....not much Minnesota will need to change, except perhaps decide on whether Ryan Carter will get some playoff time (he was a healthy scratch)....guy most likely to sit down if he plays would probably be either Justin Fontaine or Sean Bergenheim. I wonder if St. Louis stays the course with Jake Allen or goes to the veteran Brian Elliot.....maybe they turn to Ryan Miller.....oh wait........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 St. Louis with a solid win yesterday...though I must say, 4-1 is NOT indicative of how this game went. ESPN had stupid headlines like "Blues whip Wild 4-1 to even the series" Game was much closer than 4-1 suggests.Not gonna take away anything from the Blues, but it was basically the Vladimir Tarasenko show and Jake Allen, while good, was VERY lucky on a few occasions that goals weren't scored on him. Also, for all the hoopla that the "Blues used physicality to hold the Wild back", truth is, the Wild gave alot of that back to them and on top of that, for all the Blues did to try to 'intimidate the Wild' (another asinine statement made by MANY analysts), Minnesota didn't look at all intimidated. Minnesota rolled with the punches, retaliated when appropriate (for the most part) and gave the Blues, particularly Ott, Oshie, and Backes, some of their own medicine to boot. Full props to the Blues for a very good and well deserved win....but they and the Blues fans best be prepared for a possibly long and drawn out series.And from the outset I had the Blues at ONLY a slight favorite.If Minnesota does beat them, I can hear the NHL pundits now: "Wild shock the Blues!" Try again, guys.Yes, it would be an upset...but a mild one at best. First things first though....tie series at 1, now things shift to Xcel in St. Paul, Wild had been a good home team all year, they 'stole' a game on the road, time to take the lead again on the Blues.VERY possible to do for Minnesota too. Let's see how the Blues match up with and deal with the Wild's speed and physical play when they DON'T have last change.You up for some trips to the penalty box, Mr. Ott? Mr. Backes? Let's get WILD then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 @TropicalFruitGirl26 I only saw the first game, seen highlights of the 2nd one....but one thing is sticking out.....Tucker and Coyle are taking it to the next level. They are getting better with each shift it seems like. Some thought these 2 would amount to slightly better than average checkers...but I'm starting to see LEGIT top 6 forwards who have the upside to be stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 For tonight's Game 3 at Xcel Energy in St. Paul, MN...from Fox Sports: http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/justin-fontaine-sean-bergenheim-rejoin-minnesota-wild-lineup-for-game-3-042015 Looks like Coach Mike Yeo will be reverting back to his Game 1 lineup.This means Matt Cooke will be a healthy scratch (yay!), Erik Haula continues to sit, as will Jordan Schroeder.....while Justin Fontaine and Sean Bergenheim will be Kyle Brodziak's wingers on the 4th line. Not bad at all, Coach Yeo.Only thing I would like to see, is Nate Prosser on defense get into the series.He has been a healthy scratch so far in the post season, although, I can see WHY....due to how well the six D-men that are in now are playing. 1st Pair- Suter and Brodin2nd Pair- Scandella and Spurgeon3rd Pair- Leopold and Dumba At this stage, really hard to justify sitting any of those six down in favor of Prosser.Fortunately, Nate is a true professional, and he will continue to prep each and every practice as if he WERE getting in the game. It's what he has had to do most of the season...but when there is an opening, he has played admirably. Home ice advantage tonight, Minnesota....make it count and come away with a 2-1 series lead!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Series tied and now the Wild head on back to Scottrade for Game 5. Go get'm Wild...you've been pretty good on the road, this should be no different.Lesson learned from Game 4: Be intense...be always intense...because you know the Blues are gonna be. Pressure is back on St. Louis for the win at home, Minnesota seems to thrive when no one (ridiculous as it sounds) gives them a chance.Get it done tonight, Wild! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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