Minnesota Wild vs Dallas Stars, Sunday 12-1-2019, 2:00pm, Xcel Energy Center

[MNSOTA]

Wild-Stars Preview

 

Minnesota Wild (11-11-4)  26pts  6th in the Central

2.92 Goals For Per Game (16th in the NHL)

3.23 Goals Against Per Game (23rd in the NHL)

19.1% Power Play (15th in the NHL)

81.6% Penalty Kill (16th in the NHL)

 

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 8G 11A = 19pts

2. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 9G 8A = 17pts

3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 3G 13A = 16pts

4. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 3G 12A = 15pts

5. #11 Zach Parise ~ 11G 3A = 14pts

 

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 35 PIM's

2. #24 Matt Dumba ~ 25 PIM's

3. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 21 PIM's

 

Top Goaltenders:

1. #32 Alex Stalock (6-3-2)  2.74GAA  .911%SP  1SO

2. #40 Devan Dubnyk (4-8-2)  3.35GAA  .893%SP

 

Vs.

 

Dallas Stars (15-10-2)  32pts  4th in the Central

2.67 Goals For Per Game (23rd in the NHL)

2.37 Goals Against Per Game (3rd in the NHL)

14.7% Power Play (25th in the NHL)

85.1% Penalty Kill (5th in the NHL)

 

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #91 Tyler Seguin ~ 6G 15A = 21pts

2. #4 Miro Heiskanen ~ 6G 11A = 17pts

3. #47 Alexander Radulov ~ 8G 7A = 15pts

4. #24 Roope Hintz ~ 11G 2A = 13pts

5. #14 Jamie Benn ~ 5G 8A = 13pts

 

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #47 Alexander Radulov ~ 26 PIM's

2. #16 Joe Pavelski ~ 16 PIM's

3. #3 John Klingberg ~ 14 PIM's

 

Top Goaltenders:

1. #30 Ben Bishop (9-6-1)  2.22GAA  .928%SP

2. #35 Anton Khudobin (6-4-1)  2.14GAA  .931%SP

[CreaseAndAssist]

MNSOTA wrote up the game preview, I'll be on the post-gamer.  Koivu's 1,000th game today.  

[Hockey-78]

Another team with scoring woes despite some big names on the roster, better roster. 

 

Koivu's 1000th? I guess Lapanta & Greenlay will be humping his leg from the word go...

[Hockey-78]

1 hour ago, MNSOTA said:

Wild-Stars Preview

 

Thanks, a good preview. Although I was anticipating a few words of the Wild's goalie situation. Btw, who's starting today?

 

Good that you mentioned drafting! Hintz of the Stars has scored 11 G in 20 games in only his second season. Drafted in 2015 as the #49 overall pick. The Wild wanted Eriksson Ek instead... When was the last time a Wild player scored 11 goals in the first 20 games?

 

They also had a chance to draft players like Sebastian Aho, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, Beauvillier... but said no thanks to guys with speed and scoring prowess.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 hour ago, Hockey-78 said:

Thanks, a good preview. Although I was anticipating a few words of the Wild's goalie situation. Btw, who's starting today?

 

Good that you mentioned drafting! Hintz of the Stars has scored 11 G in 20 games in only his second season. Drafted in 2015 as the #49 overall pick. The Wild wanted Eriksson Ek instead... When was the last time a Wild player scored 11 goals in the first 20 games?

 

They also had a chance to draft players like Sebastian Aho, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, Beauvillier... but said no thanks to guys with speed and scoring prowess.

 

According to a few fantasy hockey sites (they make it their business to know who is starting for obvious reasons), Alex Stalock should be getting the start barring some game time decision by Boudreau.

I hope not, but this seems the sort of game for "Cowboy" Alex to get lit up in.
Maybe even with Kahkonen in there, Minnesota gets lit up by the Dallas offense as well, who knows.
But Stalock better adhere to his technique rather than trying to be flashy with the puck....otherwise this is going to be a tough night.

[IllaZilla]

According to Russo, Stalock led the Wild onto the ice for warm ups, so he must be starting...

[Hockey-78]

4 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

According to a few fantasy hockey sites (they make it their business to know who is starting for obvious reasons), Alex Stalock should be getting the start barring some game time decision by Boudreau.

I hope not, but this seems the sort of game for "Cowboy" Alex to get lit up in.
Maybe even with Kahkonen in there, Minnesota gets lit up by the Dallas offense as well, who knows.
But Stalock better adhere to his technique rather than trying to be flashy with the puck....otherwise this is going to be a tough night.

Cheers! Yeah, Stalock wasn't convincing to my taste against the AHL squad the other night. He should play more the percentage shots and not try Hasek impersonations.

 

This is a perfect opportunity for a solid tank loss. I sure hope Dallas lits he whole Wild up.

[bbgarnett]

yup it's Stalock again. I know he played well last game but come on we need to see what Kappo can really do.

[Hockey-78]

1 hour ago, Hockey-78 said:

Another team with scoring woes despite some big names on the roster, better roster. 

 

Koivu's 1000th? I guess Lapanta & Greenlay will be humping his leg from the word go...

My God... it started already.

[Hockey-78]

"Koivu's competitive fire"... I'm about to throw up.

[Hockey-78]

Why didn't Gorg ask "what's the most memorable achievement for you in a Wild jersey, Mikko?"

 

"You know, gee, there are so many... the first time we made it to the playoffs and obviously when we made it to the 2nd round..."

[MNSOTA]

1 hour ago, Hockey-78 said:

Thanks, a good preview. Although I was anticipating a few words of the Wild's goalie situation. Btw, who's starting today?

 

Good that you mentioned drafting! Hintz of the Stars has scored 11 G in 20 games in only his second season. Drafted in 2015 as the #49 overall pick. The Wild wanted Eriksson Ek instead... When was the last time a Wild player scored 11 goals in the first 20 games?

 

They also had a chance to draft players like Sebastian Aho, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, Beauvillier... but said no thanks to guys with speed and scoring prowess.

 

Sorry, I find goaltenders boring. Plus, all these years later, I'm still miffed that we gave away Khudobin to Boston for essentially NOTHING. We did that before we learned that Harding had MS, traded Hacket, traded Kuemper, and dealt with other goaltending woes over the seasons. Imagine the better situation would be had we a decent, serviceable goaltender in the organization.

[IllaZilla]

9 minutes ago, bbgarnett said:

yup it's Stalock again. I know he played well last game but come on we need to see what Kappo can really do.

 

The team is at .500 and their goal is still the Playoffs, such as it is. Right now they're not interested in developing youth, they want to get into the Playoffs.

 

So as much as we want to see Kahkonen, the only way we'd see him regularly is if the team was pacing the Sens for worst team in the league...and even then I'd doubt we'd see Kahkonen regularly unless the team was mathematically eliminated from the Playoffs...

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Nice pressure by the Wild....can't quite finish, as they often don't....but at least they are playing on the Dallas side of the ice.

And Stalock earlier was already looking loosey goosey out there...yikes.

[Hockey-78]

Bishop is helluva goalie...

[Hockey-78]

Man, does this drooling over Koivu never end...

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Regardless of what people think of him nowadays, congrats to Koivu on his 1000th game.
That is just a long time to play in a tough league.
 

And that was with being derailed with injuries that kept  him out of quite a few games in a season over the years.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

2 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

Bishop is helluva goalie...

 

Yes, he is.
Plays the puck pretty well too and even has a bit of 'agitator' in him, though I haven't seen that too much from him in the last season or so.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Man...Bish is just seeing EVERYTHING, even through screens....and what he doesn't see, his big body taking up almost all the net is taking care of it.

Gotta hand it to Minnesota...even not scoring on that PP, they kept the pressure in the zone.
Much rather see that than them spending 1:35 just trying to enter the zone and keeping the puck in.

[Hockey-78]

6 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Regardless of what people think of him nowadays, congrats to Koivu on his 1000th game.
That is just a long time to play in a tough league.
 

And that was with being derailed with injuries that kept  him out of quite a few games in a season over the years.

True, I'll give him that.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Not sure how much of a "hold" Donato was really guilty of, but he got called for it while Ryan Hartman was doing some fantastic work along the wall against two Dallas players. Bad timing for Donato.

PK time.

[Hockey-78]

21 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Regardless of what people think of him nowadays, congrats to Koivu on his 1000th game.
That is just a long time to play in a tough league.

Speaking of which... that might make him a record holder? 1000 games in the NHL without ever dropping the gloves? Has he? I can't remember.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

7 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

Speaking of which... that might make him a record holder? 1000 games in the NHL without ever dropping the gloves? Has he? I can't remember.

 

Can't say I remember him doing that either.
Would take some looking around to see.

I remember he used to be a pretty good hitter/checker. Not so much anymore of course.
He is more selective now, but his strength is still in his ability to gain possession on the face offs.
I'd also say he can still find guys on the ice, though they may not finish, but everything else points to where if Mikko retires next season, it shouldn't surprise anyone.
 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

@Hockey-78

 

Did a little checking...
According to hockeyfights.com, Koivu doesn't have an NHL fight, and the ONLY one they have listed is one from 2005 when he played for the Aeros and he fought a guy named Mark Eaton.

So there ya go.... 1000 games without a fight it is...

[Hockey-78]

Just now, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

@Hockey-78

 

Did a little checking...
According to hockeyfights.com, Koivu doesn't have an NHL fight, and the ONLY one they have listed is one from 2005 when he played for the Aeros and he fought a guy named Mark Eaton.

So there ya go.... 1000 games without a fight it is...

So the related question would be: who else has kept his nose blood free for 1000 games? oh, the play continues...