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Dubnyk Gets the Nod As Wild Return Home |
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Wild Game Day number 17
Wild Record (7-7-2 16 pts)
Home Record (3-3-1)
Opponent: Philadelphia Flyers (8-7-2 18 pts)
Road Record (4-4-0)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North
Last Season Results:
1/12 Wild 2 @ Flyers 3
3/23 Flyers 3 @ Wild 1
Last result:
11/11 Wild 1 @ Flyers 0
The odd Eastern Conference home and home with the Flyers concludes tonight as the teams meet again, this time at the Xcel. Devan Dubnyk shutout the Flyers on Saturday 1-0 giving the Wild just their seventh win in 22 games vs Philadelphia, and snapped a 5 game losing streak against the Flyers.
Dubnyk will make the start tonight, coming off his best performance of the season on Saturday, and back to back shutouts. This is still interesting given the fact that Alex Stalock was supposed to start against Toronto, but had to return home for the birth of his second child.
With Stalock gone, Boudreau really had no choice but to start Dubnyk both in Toronto and then the next night in Montreal. Stalock rejoined the team in Philadelphia, as the back-up. That makes sense as he was away and hadn't been on the ice for a few days and Dubnyk was coming off the shutout in Montreal.
But tonight is different, and I firmly understand riding the hot hand, but if Stalock was scheduled to start last Wednesday, because as Boudreau had stated, he hadn't played in a week and he wanted to get him in, then why not tonight at home. It is not like Dubnyk has a sterling record versus Philly. Lifetime Dubnyk is 3-5-1 with a 2.34 GAA and .927 save percentage, while Alex Stalock is 2-0-0 with a 2.55 GAA and .875 save percentage against Philly, in three games all while Stalock was a member of the San Jose Sharks.
The Flyers will be hungry after being held scoreless in front of their home fans. Their top line of Claude Giroux (9 goals, 11 assists), Jacob Voracek (4 goals 17 assists), and Sean Couturier (10 goals,9 assists) is one of the best trios in the league. Power forward Wayne Simmonds (6 goals, 5 assists) is one of the toughest net front presence players in the league, but he enters tonight's tilt, mired in a 9 game goalless drought.
Once again the Wild will be looking to attack the young Flyers defense and keeping the game simple in the offensive zone. Quick passes and more shots to the net with lots of traffic in front of the Flyers cage.
The Wild penalty kill is on quite a roll, killing 34 of their last 37 over an 11 game stretch, and scoring three shorthanded goals in the process. The powerplay has been nearly the exact opposite as they are 2 for their last 34 with the man advantage.
The Wild have five, one goal losses, to go along with three more two goal losses in which their opponent scored an empty net goal. That is eight games in which a powerplay goal could have made the difference in getting additional points in the standings.
With the parity in the NHL, being what it is today, teams that take advantage of their powerplay opportunities with the best success, most likely will be the teams punching their ticket to the Playoff dance come Spring of 2018.
That said the Wild need to get their powerplay going. They have been able to establish some very good zone time. but they continue to pass the puck around the perimeter in hopes of the perfect opportunity. Teams that have the most success on the PP are those that move the puck quickly one or two passes rapid fire and then a shot. This allows them to exploit the open ice and take advantage of their extra attacker.
Lastly, of course the watch will be on for Jason Zucker to see if he can keep his hot hand going as he has accounted for all of the Wild goals (6 total) in their last three games.
An injury update, as Charlie Coyle joined the Wild on the ice today for the morning skate. A good sign indeed, but no time table has been set for his return to the lineup.
Back home tonight with a chance to get over .500 both overall and more importantly on home ice, where the Wild need to make their opponents feel unwelcome. No Minnesota nice at the Xcel!
Projected Wild Lines:
Ennis Koivu Granlund
Niederreiter Staal Zucker
Winnik Eriksson Ek Kunin
Foligno Cullen Stewart
Suter Spurgeon
Brodin Dumba
Olofsson Reilly
Dubnyk
Stalock
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