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Wild vs. Avalanche 12/27/19 @ 7:00PM CST at Pepsi Center


CreaseAndAssist

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Wild vs. Avalanche Game Preview

 

Minnesota Wild (18-15-5)  41pts  6th in the Central

3.08 Goals For Per Game (15th in the NHL)

3.29 Goals Against Per Game (28th in the NHL)

 

17.3% Power Play (21st in the NHL)

77% Penalty Kill (25th in the NHL)

 

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 14G 17A = 31pts

2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 20A = 24pts

3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 14G 8A = 22pts

4. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 9G 13A = 22pts

5. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 8G 13A = 21pts

 

Top 3 PIM’s:

1. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 44 PIM’s

2. #24 Matt Dumba ~ 33 PIM’s

3. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 28 PIM’s

 

Top Goaltenders:

1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (6-8-2)  3.19GAA  .897%SP  1SO

2. #32 Alex Stalock (9-6-2)  3.02GAA  .901%SP  1SO

 

Vs.

 

Colorado Avalanche (23-11-3)  49pts  2nd in the Central

3.62 Goals For Per Game (1st in the NHL)

2.78 Goals Against Per Game (9th in the NHL)

 

18.9% Power Play (16th in the NHL)

80.3% Penalty Kill (18th in the NHL)

 

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #29 Nathan MacKinnon ~ 21G 34A = 55pts

2. #72 Joonas Donskoi ~ 13G 15A = 28pts

3. #96 Mikko Rantanen ~ 11G 14A = 25pts

4. #95 Andre Burakovsky ~ 13G 11A = 24pts

5. #91 Nazem Kadri ~ 12G 11A = 23pts

 

Top 3 PIM’s:

1. #91 Nazem Kadri ~ 46 PIM’s

2. #16 Nikita Zadorov ~ 43 PIM’s

3. #27 Ryan Graves ~ 31 PIM’s

 

Top Goaltenders:

1. #31 Philipp Grubauer (10-8-2)  2.86GAA  .913%SP

2. #39 Pavel Francouz (11-2-1)  2.22GAA  .932%SP

 

I wrote up the game preview today and I will be writing the post-gamer as well.  MNSOTA has the day off.  Both teams went into the holiday break with wins behind them.  Colorado may be one of the deepest teams, talent-wise in the league.  No Cale Makar, but everyone else is healthy so it will still be an incredible challenge.  Enjoy and discuss...

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What do you think will be important in order for the Wild to earn a victory?

 

1) Solid goaltending. Whoever is the starter, not allowing any demoralizing softies.

 

2) Colorado's 1st line is a TOP3 line, not in the conference but in the league. The Wild has to shut it down completely. MacKinnon has as many points as Wild's top2 scorers combined - enough said.

 

3) Like mentioned in the preview, keep your foot on the gas. The Wild has to work hard for 60 minutes. Very seldom a less talented group can play well for say two periods, then fall asleep and wake up with a win in the pocket after third.

 

4) Honorable mention to Dumba. His bonehead decisions can cost Wild the game. Think Matt, think!

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Keys to victory?

Right off....stay out of the damned penalty box.
Colorado may be ranked "middle of the pack" in PP, but they are still more than solid at over 18%...and the Wild are pretty soft at just 77% on the kill.
Just stay away from stupid stuff on the ice.

Next, shoot the puck more.
As good as the Avs are, they ARE subject to giving up shots against.
Obviously, the types of shots the Wild take will be important (40 perimeter shots mean zero), but makes sense to me that the more they take from all over (preferably from the circles or in close), the better the odds one will sneak through.

Wild need to keep this game rather "boring"...meaning, let's not get into a track meet style of play with the Avs. Play by the numbers defense, make the Avs go through layers earning every inch of the ice, possibly keep this game a low scoring affair, while still trying to sniff out opportunities to spring guys on offense.

This last one goes without saying: its a 60-minute game. Play 60 minutes. Not 30, not 45, not 59. 60.
This team has shown, that when focused, they can play as a unit against anyone...…...unfortunately, they seem to have trouble doing it for the duration of any one game on a consistent basis.

 

If they can do all those things, the Wild give themselves a decent shot at skating away with a win against a very good Colorado squad.
 

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2 minutes ago, wildstars95 said:

that's right keep that barn quiet so far so good 🤐

as long as they don't score within in the first 5 minutes or so and don't get too much pressure then hopefully it will go well.

Edited by bbgarnett
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