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Wild Not Done Yet, But It Certainly Doesn't Look Good

April 18, 2018, 11:49 AM ET [12 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The playoff clichés get thrown around all the time, and so here goes with the next one as it pertains to the Wild/Jets series. Elimination games are always the toughest games as teams have their backs to the wall.

So hopefully for the Wild's sake they can live up to the test on Friday night in Winnipeg, or it will be just another early playoff exit for the Green, Gold, and Iron Range Red.

A lot has been made of the brutal cross check delivered by the Jets, Josh Morrissey, on Eric Staal. The fact that the Wild were already on the powerplay appears obvious as an explanation for the non-call.

I am not going to say that was the turning point of the game by any stretch. It was a horrendous non-call, no doubt. But let's look at the remainder of that powerplay where Charlie Coyle had three shooting opportunities and he was unable to get one of them through to the net.

That to me was the turning point of the game. How can Coyle allow all of those shots to be blocked? Yes the Wild could have and should have had a two man advantage, but their is no guarantee that they would have scored on that, and there was still over two periods of hockey left to play.

Anyone who wants to point to that incident and make it their sole argument, really doesn't understand the full complexion of the game. Yes, it may have changed the tone, but to say it would have changed the course of the game is a bit overstated. How about the fact that with under a minute to play in the first period Boudreau has the Cullen, Coyle, Ennis line on the ice, period, and to top that off, they were up against the Scheifele line?

Time to move on, the game is over the Jets won 2-0, and now have a strangle hold on the series heading back home, where they have the best home record in the league this season.

There is no time to cry about the missed call, the only focus that the Wild should be taking is, how will they make the necessary adjustments to win game 5 in Winnipeg. To make matters more difficult, the white-out will be in full force in anticipation of the first playoff series win in franchise history.

Bruce Boudreau should not have made such a big deal of the non-call either, being the veteran coach that he is, he should know better than to lose focus on the task at hand. I don't believe that he or the Wild players feel that they are out of this series, being the proud professionals that they are. By keeping things focused on the things that matter rather than what is in the past is where Boudreau should be focusing his attention.

Connor Hellebuyck rebounded well after a tough night Sunday, stopping all 30 Wild shots he faced for his first ever playoff shutout. Devan Dubnyk was again strong in the Wild net, keeping the team in the game on several occasions. Dubnyk will have to be even better on Friday if the series is coming back to Minnesota for a game 6.

The Zach Parise injury was a huge blow for the Wild, no doubt. My question is why the delay in getting that news out to the public? I know it is playoff time and everything is so secretive, but in this case I think the timing had an adverse affect on the home crowd, who seemed reserved from the outset.

Two days to prepare for Game 5, will Boudreau elect to go with either Kyle Rau or Kurtis Gabriel in place of the ineffective Tyler Ennis who played just over 7 minutes with 1 shot on goal and 1 registered hit but more importantly he was on the ice for the Mark Scheifele goal with 28 seconds to play in the 1st period.

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