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Streaking Wild Return Home to Host Flames |
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Wild Game Day number 30
Wild Record (15-11-3 33 pts)
Home Record (8-3-2)
Opponent: Calgary Flames (16-12-2 34 pts)
Road Record (8-4-2)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 7:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports Net Plus (FSN+)
Last season results:
11/15 Flames 1 @ Wild 0
12/2 Wild 2 @ Flames 3(SO)
2/1 Wild 1 @ Flames 5
Last result:
10/21 Wild 4 @ Flames 2
The Wild return home after a successful 2-1 California road trip to host the Flames tonight. Calgary comes to town having won their last two games and undefeated in their last three in regulation (2-0-1). Like the Wild the Flames have gone to OT in two of the last three games.
Minnesota took the first meeting of the season back in October 4-2 in Calgary. Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon scored 95 seconds apart mid-way through the 3rd period to turn a Flames 2-1 lead into a Wild victory. Alex Stalock stopped 35 of 37 Flames shots to notch the win. That Wild win snapped a 4 game Flames winning streak in the overall series between the two clubs.
The Wild are still working their way toward becoming a more defensively structured team. That has been a struggle for them thus far with the common theme following games is that they play with the structure for stretches then regress to the lazy sloppy play that leads to trouble.
Over the past 9 Wild games the team has allowed 40 man advantage opportunities to their opponents and yielded 9 pp goals against over that stretch, dropping the PK percentage to the middle of the pack.
Typically a strength of the Wild has been the penalty kill, and to a degree it still is. but when you give up as many opportunities as the Wild have been prone to do the result is going to be taxing on your penalty killers and the percentages are going to suffer, not to mention the goals against and the record.
On the contrary the Wild powerplay has been very good over that same stretch going 6 for 20 giving the Wild a 22.4% mark for the year with the man advantage, good for 5th in the league in that department.
Mikko Koivu enters tonight's game goalless now in 20 straight games and even more alarming, pointless in the last seven. Is this just an aberration or something more. The shots on goal are still there for Mikko so it would seem not to be the opportunities.
For sure Koivu appears a bit slower this season but maybe it is time for his role to be adjusted to more of a third line player and not the go to guy that he once was. Joel Eriksson Ek is ready to take on more responsibility on this team. Reducing Koivu's ice time by a couple minutes per night may in the long run make him more effective in the long run.
Either way Koivu's lack of production to this point and the Wild's overall team performance is an overall indictment of GM, Chuck Fletcher's premature decision to sign the Wild captain to a two year extension before the puck was even dropped for game one of the regular season.
In other Wild news Ivan Lodnia the Wild's first pick in this past year's NHL draft (3rd round, 85th overall) to an entry level contract. Lodnia currently playing for the Erie Otters in the OHL, has 16 goals and 33 points this season.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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