MN Wild 2016-17 – Official thread.

No predictions for tonight against the Avs?

Up by 2 early on. We need to jam it down there throat and not let off…..
DT

I’m nervous that we are 8 minutes in and Dubnyk doesn’t have a save. Not good for goalies.
DT

deertracker wrote:

Stalock kept it close. That was about it.
DT

Including today’s game, it appears the 17 minute mark is our achilles heal. 4 goals against in the last 3 periods in the 17-18 minute mark of a period.

I do love the Haula celly taking the monkey off his back. The Avs are always a good confidence builder for us.

deertracker wrote:

I’m nervous that we are 8 minutes in and Dubnyk doesn’t have a save. Not good for goalies.
DT

I always played best after those first two went in.

Ok, Wild now hitting on about 4 of 8 cylinders, but 4 is better than 0. Tough way to end the year with a game every other day for a month, but that’s the way it is.

Lot’s to like from tonight’s ass whipping of the Avs. Yeah, the Avs are bad, but you have to beat bad teams too as the Caps found out yesterday. Besides, whipping the Avs’ asses is always fun no matter what.

Looks like the Wild will most likely play the Blues in Round 1. Tough draw to be sure, the Blues have finally come to life. To me this is good news / bad news, yes the Wild have a tough series, but if they can beat the Blues in R1 they have a chance at anything.

Grouse

Not sure how much to gain from the Avs win because the Avs are BAD BAD BAD, still lots of stupid mistakes that lead to scoring chances or goals (Koivu has been on a turnover streak lately). I’m fine with playing the Blues, if you focus on stopping Tarasanko you should be able to beat them, they’ve lost alot of playoff grit and experience since last season (Backes, Shattenkirk, Brouwer)

We’ll either win or lose this series in 5 games, depends on which Wild team shows up…

deertracker wrote:

I’m nervous that we are 8 minutes in and Dubnyk doesn’t have a save. Not good for goalies.
DT

At this this time it was because he didn’t have a shot on goal.
That’s right though, goalies seem to need to feel the puck to get into the game.
The score was lopsided, but I wouldn’t say I was overly impressed with the play. First was good, after that ho hum. I think they only managed 2 shots in the 3rd. The Avs are a trashy team. They have 3 guys in the bottom 850 of the league in +/-. Yeah, it may be a useless stat by some, but that is epically bad.

The Bolts are hanging around, but its looking like they are going to finish on the outside. Their best hope is Ottawa continues to tank. Ottowa was my favorite team from the east for a long time, but I don’t understand how they are in contention with that roster. Tampa does play Boston and Toronto who are ahead of them by 3 & 4 points, so I guess it is in their hands, but the bad thing is those are going to be tough teams to beat when you are nipping at their heels. They will have a lot to play for as well. Making it more tough is that they are road games against Toronto, Boston and Montreal.

If Tampa makes it in, they will be a tough out for any team. I would like to see them make it and nock out one or two of the top seeds.

It’s pretty tough when Stamkos and Callahan both were out for 75% of the season. Regardless of what happens, they’ll be back strong next year and maybe for one season Stamkos can get a little luck in the health department.

Drouin sure has come a long way from being an apparent pariah. I don’t know if Yzerman or someone got to him or he has done it on his own, but he is a gamer. I’ve been watching these last few games and he is leaving a lot on the ice.

Pull Doobs NOW! He has no business being between the pipes the rest of the regular season. That was one of the softest goals ever

SERIOUSLY, yank him before he costs us the game!!!

I predict if doobs has a poor game one in the playoffs, we ride stallock the rest of the way…And get bounced in round one, unless stallock plays out of his mind.

Boudreau likes flipping goalies and doobs is slow, not tracking and not playing at the top of his crease.

mplspug wrote:

not playing at the top of his crease.

This is what I think as well. Amazing how a goalie that big can look so small. When you play that deep in the net it means you’re getting lazy. Trying to make your lateral moves shorter.

I was expecting the see Kuemper at the start of the 2nd.
DT

Dubnyk looked a lot better in the 3rd.
DT

Wild win, whats all the doom & gloom? Cripes I thought they lost 10-1.

These final regular season games have little to no importance. I’m just analyzing where we are at.

I will follow that post after the first with he did look better the rest of the way. He has had quite a few games now where he just has bad starts. If he can stop doing that I’ll feel a lot more confident.

I like the Hanzel pick up more and more.

I wonder what Boudreau does with Zucker when he returns. I suspect he’ll keep Haula on that line until they stop being effective.

Granny on the wing in the playoffs is something I’m looking forward to. He’s always stepped up his game, so I am interested in seeing what that line does.

Dutchboy wrote:

Wild win, whats all the doom & gloom? Cripes I thought they lost 10-1.

If the offense wouldn’t have been on fire it would have been 10-1 in the first period. A cardboard cut out would have been as effective as Doobs, that being said he looked much better the 2nd and 3rd.

It’s not just about the win last night. This team is heading into the playoffs. They have to be at the top of their game. They show up in the playoffs with goaltending like that and they might as well pack up the gear and head home. No way they are going to beat a playoff caliber team with that kind of play between the pipes.

Between Doobs awful first period and Dumba’s oh so common stupid mistakes they were very lucky to come out with a W last night. If those two had sat out last night it might have been 6-0 Wild. I hope Bruce gives Doobs the rest of the regular season off. They need to get more looks at Stalock and give him some playing time. Dumba I am not sure what to do with. I get very nervous every time he touches the puck. Stupid mistakes, turnovers in their own end, dumb penalties, bad passes, and guys just plain skating by him is getting way to common.

We need some D help in a bad way. I still wish they had made a bid for Shattenkirk. Dumba, Prosser, Scandella I have zero confidence in and now with Spurge hurt…hopefully that is a minor thing and he will be good to go for the playoffs.

Granny has been a little quiet lately, but he always brings it big time in the playoffs. I am not the least bit worried about him. I really like Haula on the “Fin” line. They really seem to work well together and Haula is bringing his A game on that line. It’s going to be a tough call when Zucker comes back, it’s is great to have his speed on that line also.

Stalock 34 saves in a 2-1 win for Iowa last night. Just saying.

The Canes have been playing very well of late so that was a good measuring stick game. Overall pleased with the play along with the criticism of Dumba and Dubnyk.
Dubnyk played solid the 2nd and 3rd so that was encouraging.
Maybe the Wild should be more aggressive in warmups shooting at Dubnyk to get him in the game sooner. It sure does seem like it takes him a bit to get going.
I loved how Parise wore his old man’s gloves and helmet! My first helmet was exactly like that.

And now for something completely different

To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have recognized him either. To me, he looks really different in street clothes for some reason.

I also hope Marchand gets at least 10 games for this bs. 10 may seem a little harsh to some, but he pulls this stuff all the time. He thinks he a sneaky twat, just like when you watch the video, after he sees the call is being made, he sticks his stick in Dotchin’s face.

that’s just brutal, the only thing worse is the goalie castration move when a player is standing in front of the neck with his back to the goalie.

Marchand needs his arse whooped…

Good win last night.

I guess I’m going to take the opposing view on Doobs’ play last night. Very difficult to see how he could have stopped that first and third goal. Carolina was coming in 2-1 on that first goal, he has to square up to the man with the puck and Koivu was just too far behind the guy coming down the right wing. What can you do? If that pass connects (which it did) there’s no way I can expect any goalie to get across and stop that.

OK, so the PP goal was soft. But Doobs was lights out in the 2nd and 3rd.

Now Spurgeon didn’t play in the 2nd and 3rd. Anyone hear an update? Didn’t have time to look. Hopefully minor.

Lost to like about the Finn line.

I was beside myself last night watching Coyle constantly handle the puck for 3 strides and then turn it over. Missed shots, missed passes, etc, etc. Of course, then he scores… But the Wild need to dump him. There are lots of 18 goal guys out there that have more upside potential the Coyle. Hopefully Vegas takes him and we get rid of him. I’d love to be wrong on this because of how much time we sunk into Coyle, but basically I think he has zero upside potential and it’s time to move on.

Grouse

I agree MPLSPug, he is always a cheap SOB and that is just totally blatant cheap crap. Ring him up for a minimum of 5 games! Going for a guys stones is such a girl move too.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Good win last night.

I guess I’m going to take the opposing view on Doobs’ play last night. Very difficult to see how he could have stopped that first and third goal. Carolina was coming in 2-1 on that first goal, he has to square up to the man with the puck and Koivu was just too far behind the guy coming down the right wing. What can you do? If that pass connects (which it did) there’s no way I can expect any goalie to get across and stop that.

OK, so the PP goal was soft. But Doobs was lights out in the 2nd and 3rd.

Now Spurgeon didn’t play in the 2nd and 3rd. Anyone hear an update? Didn’t have time to look. Hopefully minor.

Lost to like about the Finn line.

I was beside myself last night watching Coyle constantly handle the puck for 3 strides and then turn it over. Missed shots, missed passes, etc, etc. Of course, then he scores… But the Wild need to dump him. There are lots of 18 goal guys out there that have more upside potential the Coyle. Hopefully Vegas takes him and we get rid of him. I’d love to be wrong on this because of how much time we sunk into Coyle, but basically I think he has zero upside potential and it’s time to move on.

Grouse

Sorry Grouse, but I HAVE to call you out on that first goal. Doobs takes up over 1/2 of the net without moving. His whole right side of the net was blocked by other players. There was no where to go but to Doobs left side of the net and he was there in plenty of time to make that save. I have watched that goal 15 times. A high school goalie has to make that save, a pro damn sure better make it. No excuse, he crapped the bed on that goal.

I am not totally on board with the Coyle thing either. I agree he is not playing up to his potential, but I don’t think he is worth scrapping just yet.

I heard Bruce mention Spurgeon was fine, he’ll likely rest for the playoffs..

The first one he didn’t track the puck well and looked surprised there was someone over there to receive the pass. He should have known he was coming and he didn’t get over far enough.

The PP I can let slide. It was a nice shot.

The 3rd go he again was slow in tracking the puck and when he got over he was back in his crease more than he should have been.