lynxrattle Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 The team looked really lost to me. Does losing Koivu and Spurgeon mean this much? On the other hand the Canes are really a bad team for us, for the reasons Hockey-78 stated. Speed, IQ and the will to win, the will probably coming from the first two factors mentioned, and we have a slow team with many youngsters in key roles still learning what can and what can not be done. Hopefully Fiala is a bit like Teravainen. Teravainen was booted from the Hawks for his lack of work and defense, and now he's playing PK time. I think Fiala might become our Teravainen with the right kind of mentoring - but who is going to be the mentor needed... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 I'm going to keep think positive. they lost their best defenseman and their captain the same game. I still have faith in them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted December 8, 2019 Author Share Posted December 8, 2019 11 hours ago, IllaZilla said: Good analysis. I think the Wild started getting too comfortable with winning and thought they could coast to a victory. They got away from doing the simple things that were sustaining the points streak. Maybe this will be a wake up call that they aren’t as good as they think they are and they’ll get back to basics. Not that it matters, but I thought in the between period interviews they realized they had gotten away from what made them successful during this points streak. The post-gamer interviews seemed to recognize that as well and didn't just chalk it up to bad luck or a hot goalie or other rationalizations. They put most of the blame on themselves which is refreshing from a squad that always seemed to be in such denial of what was really plaguing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 3 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said: Not that it matters, but I thought in the between period interviews they realized they had gotten away from what made them successful during this points streak. The post-gamer interviews seemed to recognize that as well and didn't just chalk it up to bad luck or a hot goalie or other rationalizations. They put most of the blame on themselves which is refreshing from a squad that always seemed to be in such denial of what was really plaguing it. The puzzling thing is that during the game they claimed they realized they were getting away from what was making them successful (short tape-to-tape passes, tight defense, aggressive forecheck, etc.), but yet they continued to try and run-and-gun with the Canes. I get they're not going to win every game. But to abandon what made you successful because the other team has a run-and-gun style doesn't make any sense. But it was refreshing to see them say "My bad" rather than "Hot goalie", "Didn't get da bounces", "Puck luck", etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 17 hours ago, lynxrattle said: The team looked really lost to me. Does losing Koivu and Spurgeon mean this much? On the other hand the Canes are really a bad team for us, for the reasons Hockey-78 stated. Speed, IQ and the will to win, the will probably coming from the first two factors mentioned, and we have a slow team with many youngsters in key roles still learning what can and what can not be done. Hopefully Fiala is a bit like Teravainen. Teravainen was booted from the Hawks for his lack of work and defense, and now he's playing PK time. I think Fiala might become our Teravainen with the right kind of mentoring - but who is going to be the mentor needed... Maybe Koivu?. The line Parise-Koivu-Fiala was recently pretty effective. Fiala was getting some valuable defensive experience too. I think, during the last 2-3 games we lost mainly the anger/ angry mood to win the game. We need to bring it again like Bruins, Canes, Capitals do have. Russo published a short video at his tweet how Zucker was smiling and friendly touching the Nino's ear when we had a hard time in front of our net from the Canes. I understand that they are friends, but we were badly losing at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxrattle Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Perhaps Koivu pouting after lost games is a double edged sword. Maybe he would have pushed Zucker to play harder, against Nino especially. But yeah, I do think Fiala playing with Koivu and Parise is a good thing. Koivu good in defending, and Parise can perhaps teach about the importance of getting close in front of the goalie. (With the NHL changing Fiala might be able to have a healthy career despite driving to the net Parise style, when needed.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 4 minutes ago, lynxrattle said: Perhaps Koivu pouting after lost games is a double edged sword. Maybe he would have pushed Zucker to play harder, against Nino especially. But yeah, I do think Fiala playing with Koivu and Parise is a good thing. Koivu good in defending, and Parise can perhaps teach about the importance of getting close in front of the goalie. (With the NHL changing Fiala might be able to have a healthy career despite driving to the net Parise style, when needed.) Agree. Definitely Fiala has a talent and is able to learn a good things out of both of them (from Parise and Koivu). I am still thinking about our play last 2 games. IMO, that 9 goals in a last 2 games were kind of a lot for Stalock and for the team too. Hope, Kahkonen will have a chance to play at least in one(or 2) out of 3 next home games. Maybe the team will be more focused in helping too around him. Last night Rangers won over Golden Knights with a score 5:0. Rangers goalie was able to stop all 38 shots out of 38. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxrattle Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Both Kahkonen and Georgiev were great in the Finnish league. We'll have to hope for KK to succeed. Dubnyk and Stalock can't be solutions for years to come, or even right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClusterChuck Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 15 hours ago, Alexandron said: Russo published a short video at his tweet how Zucker was smiling and friendly touching the Nino's ear when we had a hard time in front of our net from the Canes. I understand that they are friends, but we were badly losing at that time. Russo hard up for tweets?? So what. At that point Carolina 'bested' us anyway. Why not have some fun. With players switching teams so often, That doesn't mean friendships end. I'm sure when Zucker and Coyle are on the ice together they want to get the better of each but not to the point of dirty plays. Hockey and especially Football there are few teams that truely dislike each other these days. Look at how many FB players are hugging, maybe a few selfies after every game. Far cry from the older days where teams wanted to destroy the other team and physically hurt them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Speaking of which: now that Brind'amour removed Nino from Aho's line, he's back to his old self. A defensive liability who can't score to save his life. On pace for 8 goals and -16 rating... ouch. Seems like it was good for the Wild to get rid of him. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Jared Spurgeon's loss was felt in the last game. You guys need him back in the lineup quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 14 hours ago, Mad Dog said: Jared Spurgeon's loss was felt in the last game. You guys need him back in the lineup quickly. Well... - He was out already against the Bolts, yet the Wild won. - He's at -6, the worst +/- rating in his career. - He played every game last season when the Wild were eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. It was also the first time he's ever played every game in a season. So um... I'm going to play devil's advocate here and ask does the Wild really need him back? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 7 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said: Well... - He was out already against the Bolts, yet the Wild won. - He's at -6, the worst +/- rating in his career. - He played every game last season when the Wild were eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. It was also the first time he's ever played every game in a season. So um... I'm going to play devil's advocate here and ask does the Wild really need him back? I'd say yes...because not having Spurgeon only makes this team want to play Suter more and that isn't a good thing IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 2 hours ago, Hockey-78 said: Well... - He was out already against the Bolts, yet the Wild won. - He's at -6, the worst +/- rating in his career. - He played every game last season when the Wild were eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. It was also the first time he's ever played every game in a season. So um... I'm going to play devil's advocate here and ask does the Wild really need him back? Fair enough and far be it for me to tell Wild fans about their players. But I would say (again, from my angle) that his skating, positioning, puck moving *is* something the team could use just about now. Plus, do you really want to overload Suter, who already logs way too much ice time fairly early in the season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomdog Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 Spurgeon will always be missed until they come up with another right hander that can do more than defend, but he is not why they lost. They lost, and will probably keep losing, to teams that are quick to attack the puck carrier. This team really seems to get rattled by teams that are quick to change direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 3 hours ago, Mad Dog said: Fair enough and far be it for me to tell Wild fans about their players. But I would say (again, from my angle) that his skating, positioning, puck moving *is* something the team could use just about now. Plus, do you really want to overload Suter, who already logs way too much ice time fairly early in the season? Like I said, playing devil's advocate so I wasn't 100% behind that question. I just thought it was funny I could dig up so many arguments against Spurgie in only a minute or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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