Minnesota Wild vs Washington Capitals, Sunday 3-1-20, 7:00pm, Xcel Energy Center

[EmptyShelf]

Fiala is really starting to become the player we needed for Granny... WTH were the Capitals D doing!?!?

[EmptyShelf]

Going to see plenty of 8 for the balance for Caps....

[bbgarnett]

Come on Dumba 

[Jimtown guy]

Despite the loss it was nice seeing the Wild go toe to toe with the very desperate and physical Caps team.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Jimtown guy

[EmptyShelf]

Kinda surprised we kept the deficit to 1 goal....Washington has a great team, but how would Wild hold up in a 5 or 7 game series against these type of teams - NOT WELL in my opinion.  Still, effort was pretty solid.  Some decisions with puck - not so much

[Alexandron]

1 minute ago, Jimtown guy said:

Despite the loss it was nice seeing the Wild go toe to toe with the very desperate and physical Caps team.

Yes. Agree. We were pretty competitive against the Caps despite the loss. We had some nice chances during the game. But also during a 2nd and a 3rd periods it looked like we were getting more tired.

[CreaseAndAssist]

Ovechkin Strikes Twice as Wild Fall 4-3 to Washington

 

It wasn't a terrible effort; well at least most of the team was working pretty hard.  Staal...dead legs.  Zuccarello looks really lost out there.  Slow decision-making...lots of blind spinning passes to no one.  Honestly, Zuccarello is doing the things that Fiala did last season.  Fiala on the other hand, is playing a lot like Gaborik.  Fast but with better 1-on-1 moves and he's finding the back of the net.  Not sure why Donato got less than 4 minutes of ice time after scoring the early goal.  Pateryn was crappy, but Dumba may have been worse.  Its a shame...without those mistakes the Wild may have won this game or at least earned a point.  A missed opportunity indeed.  I have a full game recap, an Iowa Wild report and prospect updates too.  Enjoy...

[Alexandron]

8 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

Ovechkin Strikes Twice as Wild Fall 4-3 to Washington

 

It wasn't a terrible effort; well at least most of the team was working pretty hard.  Staal...dead legs.  Zuccarello looks really lost out there.  Slow decision-making...lots of blind spinning passes to no one.  Honestly, Zuccarello is doing the things that Fiala did last season.  Fiala on the other hand, is playing a lot like Gaborik.  Fast but with better 1-on-1 moves and he's finding the back of the net.  Not sure why Donato got less than 4 minutes of ice time after scoring the early goal.  Pateryn was crappy, but Dumba may have been worse.  Its a shame...without those mistakes the Wild may have won this game or at least earned a point.  A missed opportunity indeed.  I have a full game recap, an Iowa Wild report and prospect updates too.  Enjoy...

Agree. Fiala is playing a lot like a Gaborik. Like him a lot as well as Donato too who is creating nice dangerous situations in front of the opposite net. Wish to see him playing more.

[FD19372]

It's a shame for the Wild. You just can't put the Caps on the PP, and Ovechkin burned you, but Minny should have won this game.

[lynxrattle]

Excellent entertainment! Especially the first period, it had a bit of everything! The Caps did what they had to do, champs taking care of their business, but we were able to hang on quite well. I didn't see much hope in winning the game, but maybe we could have had a point or two, if we had been very lucky. Fiala is just a blast to watch right now. Pateryn is a disaster, though. It looked to me that our players are not passing to him when passing to his spot would be natural. If they really are avoiding passing to him, is it because they try to shelter him, or are they as ticked off about him as we are? Anyways, it's a disaster. Either you pass to him and face the consequences or you don't play him. It should be black and white.

A great game, though! That was a game that reminds one of why one watches hockey. Hartman's fight against a much bigger player was a gem. If you're smart and gritty, you can manage quite well despite the size difference

[Confrontational]

I thought there were some positives and negatives - but was fun to watch them. After a while I was like "where's #9" - so that's a good thing. Was also nice seeing non-vets on the PP. Among several things - I think they struggle at keeping their composure and their positions - many times it was like a chinese fire drill in their own zone. While some on here say the Wild could have taken that - I'd also like to mention that I would not have been shocked to have the Caps up by 6 when I turned it on...

 

Lets see if they can get some much needed points on the home stretch...  

 

Also notcied Darby was still on the bench - for some reason I thought he got removed with the rest a year or so ago...

Edited March 2, 2020 by Confrontational

[CreaseAndAssist]

I thought Mikko Koivu looked and played better than Staal who to me is looking really fatigued or slow by some nagging injury.  

[Hockey-78]

15 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

I thought Mikko Koivu looked and played better than Staal who to me is looking really fatigued or slow by some nagging injury.  

I heard that there were headlines in some Finnish media that he had a one-night stand with a porn star and according to his wife adultery was the ultimate reason for their divorce. Unsurprisingly, being the consummate team player he is he had a prenuptial agreement and Mrs. gets nothing.

 

So I guess he's in a hurry to create some favorable on ice headlines...

[lynxrattle]

13 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

I heard that there were headlines in some Finnish media that he had a one-night stand with a porn star and according to his wife adultery was the ultimate reason for their divorce. Unsurprisingly, being the consummate team player he is he had a prenuptial agreement and Mrs. gets nothing.

 

So I guess he's in a hurry to create some favorable on ice headlines...

The porn star spilled the beans, and the ex-mrs stated that hubby has been cheating on him for at least two years.

 

https://www.seiska.fi/Uutiset/Cindy-Sun-yhteisesta-yostaan-Mikko-Koivun-kanssa-Mietin-etta-onpas-ronskia-kaytosta/1149738

 

Betrays his wife, his children by acting like an idiot, and betrays his team by losing his mask just when the organisation wants his shirt to be canonized to cover the lack of conference titles and Cup wins. Some captaincy.

[ClusterChuck]

2 hours ago, Confrontational said:

I thought there were some positives and negatives - but was fun to watch them. After a while I was like "where's #9" - so that's a good thing. Was also nice seeing non-vets on the PP. Among several things - I think they struggle at keeping their composure and their positions - many times it was like a chinese fire drill in their own zone. While some on here say the Wild could have taken that - I'd also like to mention that I would not have been shocked to have the Caps up by 6 when I turned it on...

 

Lets see if they can get some much needed points on the home stretch...  

 

Also notcied Darby was still on the bench - for some reason I thought he got removed with the rest a year or so ago...

I thought I heard during a broadcast of the team wanting Darby down on the bench full time and not splitting his time upstairs. Giving him a better perspective of the game and the players.

 

That sucks about Koivu. Professionally being labeled the Captian, He should set an example for his team on AND off the ice.

This is no different than J.T. Browne and his antics.

On the personal side, And this is no excuse for him, Things at home must have been shaky for him to even consider this 'one night stand', and who knows how long that's been going on and maybe affecting his job. 

We'll see how the Wild organization handles this I guess.

Edited March 2, 2020 by ClusterChuck

[Alexandron]

19 hours ago, EmptyShelf said:

Fiala is really starting to become the player we needed for Granny... 

From a fresh news - Kevin Fiala was named NHL First Star of the week. During the week ending Mar. 1, Fiala accounted for four goals and five assists in four games. He recorded a multi-point effort in each contest. Fiala currently leads the Wild with a career-high 49 points (20 goals, 29 assists) in 60 games.

 

https://www.nhl.com/news/kevin-fiala-ryan-ellis-pavel-francouz-named-nhl-3-stars/c-315761494

 

https://www.nhl.com/wild/video/kevin-fiala-named-nhl-first-star/t-277437412/c-5321016

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Alexandron